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* TRIWEEKLY PUBLICATION OF THEBEST CURRENT & STANDARD literature 


Vol. 8. No. 441. Oct. 4, 1884. Annual Subscription, $30.00. 


HOME 


AS FOUND 


A SEQUEL TO 


HOMEWARD BOUND 


J. FENIMORE COOPER 


Entered at the Post Office, N. Y. as second-class matter. 
Copyright, 1884, by John W. Lovell Co. 


+ john-W- Lovell* Goavpany* 

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LOVELL’S LIBRARY-CATALOGUE, 


1. Hyperion 20 

2> Outre-Mer .....20 

3. The Happy Boy ro 

4. Arne. 

5. F rankenstein 

6. TheLastof theMohicans.20 

7. Clytie 20 

A The Moonstone, Part 1 . 10 

9. The Moonstone, Part II. 10 

10. Oliver Twist 20 

11. The Coming Race 10 

12. Leila 10 

13. The Three Spaniards. . .20 

14. The Tricks of the Greeks.20 

15. L’Abbe Constantin 20 

16. Freckles 20 

17. The Dark Colleen 20 

18. They were Married ....10 

19. Seekers After God 20 

20. The Spanish Nun 10 

21. Green Mountain Boys.. 20 

22. Fleurette 20 

23. Second Thoughts 20 


24. The New Magdalen . 

,...20 

25. Divorce 


26. Life of Washington. . 


27. Social Etiquette 

...i S 

28. Single Heart, Double 

" Face 


29. Irene ; or, The Lonely 

Manor 


30. Vice Versa 


31. Ernest Maltravers... 


32. The Haunted House 

. . . 10 

33. John Halifax 


34. 800 Leagues on 

the 


Amazon 10 

35. The Cryptogram 10 

Life of Marion 20 

37. Paul and Virginia 10 

■go. A Tale of Two Cities. .. .20 

39. The Hermits 20 

40. An Adventure in Thule, 

etc 10 

41. A Marriage in High Life2o 

42. Robin 20 

43. Two on a Tower 20 

44. Rasselas 10 

45. Alice ; a sequel to Er- 

nest Maltravers 20 

46. Duke of Kandos 20 

47. Baron Munchausen 10 

48. A Princess of Thule 20 

49. The Secret Despatch.. . .20 

50. Early Days of Christian- 
ity, 2 Parts, each 20 

51. Vicar of Wakefield 10 

52. Progress and Poverty. . .20 

53. The Spy 20 

54. East Lynne 20 

55., A Strange Stctfy. 20 

56. Adam Bede, Fart 1 15 

Adam Bede, Part II.... 15 

57. The Golden Shaft.... ..20 

58. Portia 

59. Last Days of Pompeii. . .20 

60. The Two Duchesses. . . .20 

61. TomBrown’sSchooIDays.20 

62. Wooing O’t, 2 Pts. each. 15 

63. The Vendetta ....20 

64. Hypatia, Part I....'. ...15 
Hypatia, Part II 15 


65. 

66 . 

67. 

68 . 

69. 

70. 
7i* 
72. 

73 - 

74 - 
75 * 
76. 

77 - 

78. 

79 * 

80. 

81. 

82. 

83-, 

84. 

8 5 . 
86 . 

87. 

88 . 

89. 

90. 

91. 

92 

93- 

94. 

95 * 

96. 

97- 

98. 

99. 

100. 

101. 

102. 

103. 

104. 

105. 

106. 

107. 

168. 

109. 

no. 

III. 

1 12 * 

113 . 

114. 

I 

”5. 

1 16. 
1x7. 

1 18. 

1 19. 

120. 

121. 

122. 

123. 

124. 
125* 
126. 


Selma 15 

Margaret and her Brides- 
maids 20 

Horse Shoe Robinson, 

2 Parts, each 15 

Gulliver’s Travels 20 

Amos Barton ro 

The Berber 20 

Silas Marner 10 

Queen of the County . ..20 

Life of Cromwell 15 

Jane Eyre 20 

Child’sHist’ry of Engl’d.20 

Molly Bawn 20 

Pillone 15 

Phyllis 20 

Romola, Part 1 15 

Romola ; Part II ........ 15 

Science in ShortChapters.20 

Zanom 20 

A Daughter of Heth .... 20 
Right and Wrong Uses of 

* the Bible 20 

Night and Morning, Pt. 1. 15 
NightandMorning,Pt.II 15 

Shandon Bells 20 

Monica 10 

Heart and Science 20 

The Golden Calf 20 

The Dean’s Daughter.. .20 

Mrs. Geoffrey 20 

Pickwick Papers, Part 1. 20 
Pickwick Papers, Part II. 20 

Airy, Fairy Lilian 20 

Macleod of Dare 20 

Tempest Tossed, Part I.ao 
Tempest Tossed, P’t I I.ao 
Letters from High Lat- 
itudes .20 

Gideon Fleyce 20 

India and Ceylon 20 

The Gypsy Queen 20 

The Admiral’s Ward. . . .20 
Nimport, 2 Parts, each.. 15 

Harry Holbrooke. 20 

Tritons, 2 Parts, each . . 15 
Let Nothing You Dismay. 10 
Lady Audley’s Secret ... 20 
Woman’s Place To-day. 20 
Dunallan, 2 parts, each. 15 
Housekeeping and Home 

making 15 

No New Thing. ... . ...20 
The Spoopendyke Papers. 20 

False Hopes 15 

Labor and Capital 20 

Wanda, 2 parts, each ... 15 
M ore W ords about Bible . 20 
Monsieur Lecocq, P’t. 1. 20 
Monsieur Lecocg, Pt.II.20 
An Outline of Irish Hist. 10 

The Lerouge Case 20 

Paul Clifford 20 

A New Lease of Life.. .20 

Bourbon Lilies 20 

Other People’s Money.. 20 

Lady of Lyons 10 

Ameline de Bourg 15 

A Sea Queen 20 

The Ladies Lindores. . .20 

Haunted Hearts 

Loys, Lord Beresford.. .20 


127. Under Two Flags, Pt I. 20 
Under Two Flags, Pt II.20 

128. Money 10 

129. In Peril of His Life 20 

130. India; What can it teach 

us ? 20 

13 1. Jets and Flashes 20 

132. Moonshine and Margue- 
rites 10 

133. Mr. Scarborough's 
Family, 2 Parts, each . . 15 

134. Arden 15 

135. Tower of Percemont.. ..20 

136. Yolande 20 

137. Cruel London 20 

138. The Gilded Clique 20 

139. Pike County Folks 20 

140. Cricket on the Hearth . . 10 

141. Henry Esmond 20 

142. Strange Adventures of a ) 

Phaeton 20 

143. Denis Duval 10 

144. 01dCuriosityShop,P’t 1. 15 
01dCuriosityShop,P’rt II. 15 

145. Ivanhoe, Part 1 15 

Ivanhoe, Part II 15 

146. White Wings 20 

147. The Sketch Book 20 

148. Catherine 

149. Janet’s Repentance 10 

150. Bamaby Rudge, Part I. . 15 
Barnaby Rudge, Part II. 15 

15 1. Felix Holt 20 

152. Richelieu 10 

153. Sunrise, Part 1 15 

153. Sunrise, Part II 15 

154. Tour of the World in 80 

Days 20 

155. Mystery of Orcival 20 

156. Lovel, the Widower. ... 10 

157. Romantic Adventures of 

a Milkmaid 10 

158. DavidCopperfield, Part I.20 
DavidCopperfield.P’rt II. 20 

159. Charlotte Temple. . - ..10 

160. Rienzi, 2 Parts, each ... 15 

161. Promise of Marriage 10 

162. Faith and Unfaith 20 

163. The Happy Man ....... 10 

164. Barry Lyndon 20 

165. Eyre’s Acquittal 10 

166. 20,000 Leagues Under the 

Sea 20 

167. Anti-Slavery Days 20 

168. Beauty’s Daughters 20 

169. Beyond the Sunrise 20 

170. Hard Times 20 

171. Tom Cringle’s Log .... 20 

172. Vanity Fair 30 

173. Underground Russia 20 

174. Middlemarch,2 Pts.each.20 

175. Sir Tom 

176. Pelham 20 

177. The Story of Ida ... 10 

178. Madcap Violet 20 

179. The Little Pilgrim 10 

180. Kilmeny 2a 

181. Whist, or Buiviblepuppy ?. 10 

182. That Beautiful Wretch.. 20 

183. Her Mother’s Sin 20 

184. Green Pastures, etc 20 

185. Mysterious Island, Pt 1.15 


Home as Found 


SEQUEL TO 

HOMEWARD BOUND 



J. FENIMORE COOPER 


“Thou art perfect” 

Pr. Hen. 


f V DEC 17 1804 J 


NEW YORK 

JOHN W. LOVELL COMPANY 
14 and 16 Vesky Street 


TZ$ 

emit Mo 

n 






TROW'S 

PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY, 


NEW YORK 


PREFACE. 


Those who have done us the favor to read “ Homeward 
Bound ” will at once perceive that the incidents of this 
book commence at the point where those of the work just 
mentioned ceased. We are fully aware of the disadvantage 
of dividing the interest of a tale in this manner ; but in the 
present instance, the separation has been produced by cir- 
cumstances over w’hich the writer had very little control. 
As any one who may happen to take up this volume will 
very soon discover that there is other matter which it is 
necessary to know, it may be as well to tell all such per- 
sons, in the commencement, therefore, that their reading 
will be bootless, unless they have leisure to turn to the 
pages of “ Homeward Bound ” for their cue. 

We remember the despair with which that admirable 
observer of men, Mr. Mathews the comedian, confessed 
the hopelessness of success, in his endeavors to obtain a 
sufficiency of prominent and distinctive features to com- 
pose an entertainment founded on American character. 
The w T hole nation struck him as being destitute of salient 
points, and as characterized by a respectable mediocrity, 
that, however useful it might be in its way, was utterly 
without poetry, humor, or interest to the observer. For 
one who dealt principally with the more conspicuous ab- 
surdities of his fellow-creatures, Mr. Mathews was cer- 
tainly right ; w r e also believe him to have been right in 


4 


PREFACE. 


the main, in the general tenor of his opinion ; for this 
country, in its ordinary aspects, probably presents as barren 
a field to the writer of fiction, and to the dramatist, as any 
other on earth ; we are not certain that we might not say 
the most barren. We believe that no attempt to delineate 
ordinary American life, either on the stage or in the pages 
of a novel, has been rewarded with success. Even those 
works in which the desire to illustrate a principle has been 
the aim, when the picture has been brought within this 
homely frame, have had to contend with disadvantages 
that have been commonly found insurmountable. The 
latter being the intention of this book, the task has been 
undertaken with a perfect consciousness of all its difficult- 
ies, and with scarcely a hope of success. It would be 
indeed a desperate undertaking, to think of making any- 
thing interesting in the way of a Roman de Socitte in this 
country ; still useful glances may possibly be made even 
in that direction, and we trust that the fidelity of one or 
two of our portraits will be recognized by the looker-on, 
although they will very likely be denied by the sitters 
themselves. 

There seems to be a pervading principle in things, 
which gives an accumulating energy to any active property 
that may happen to be in the ascendant, at the time being 
— money produces money; knowledge is the parent of 
knowledge ; and ignorance fortifies ignorance. In a word, 
like begets like. The governing social evil of America is 
provincialism ; a misfortune that is perhaps inseparable 
from her situation. Without a social capital, with twenty 
or more communities divided by distance and political bar- 
riers, her people, who are really more homogeneous than 
any other of the same numbers in the world perhaps, 
possess no standard for opinion, manners, social maxims, 
or even language. Every man, as a matter of course, re- 
fers to his own particular experience, and praises or con- 


PREFA CE. 


5 


demns agreeably to notions contracted in the circle of his 
own habits, however narrow, provincial, or erroneous they 
may happen to be. As a consequence, no useful stage can 
exist ; for the dramatist who should endeavor to delineate 
the faults of society, would find a formidable party arrayed 
against him, in a moment, with no party to defend. As 
another consequence, we see individuals constantly as- 
sailed with a wolf-like ferocity, while society is everywhere 
permitted to pass unscathed. 

That the American nation is a great nation, in some 
particulars the greatest the world ever saw, we hold to be 
true, and are as ready to maintain as any one can be ; but 
we are also equally ready to concede, that it is very far 
behind most polished nations in various essentials, and 
chiefly, that it is lamentably in arrears to its own avowed 
principles. Perhaps this truth will be found to be the 
predominant thought, throughout the pages of “ Home as 
Found.” 



HOME AS FOUND. 


CHAPTER I. 


“ Good morrow, coz. 

Good morrow, sweet Hero.” 

Shakespeare. 

When Mr. Effingham determined to return home he 
sent orders to his agent to prepare his town-house in New 
York for his reception, intending to pass a month or two 
in it, then to repair to Washington for a few weeks, at the 
close of its season, and to visit his country residence when 
the spring should fairly open. Accordingly, Eve now 
found herself at the head of one of the largest establish- 
ments in the largest American town, within an hour after 
she had landed from the ship. Fortunately for her, how- 
ever, her father was too just to consider a wife or a daugh- 
ter a mere upper servant, and he rightly judged that a 
liberal portion of his income should be assigned to the 
procuring of that higher quality of domestic service, which 
can alone relieve the mistress of a household from a bur- 
den so heavy to be borne. Unlike so many of those 
around him, who would spend on a single pretending and 
comfortless entertainment, in which the ostentatious folly 
of one contended with the ostentatious folly of another, a 
sum that, properly directed, would introduce order and 
system into a family for a twelvemonth, by commanding 
the time and knowledge of those whose study they had 
been, and who would be willing to devote themselves to 
such objeets, and then permit their wives and daughters 
to return to the drudgery to which the sex seems doomed 
in this country, he first bethought him of the wants of 


8 


HOME AS FOUND. 


social life before he aspired to its parade. A man of the 
world, Mr. Effingham possessed the requisite knowledge, 
and a man of justice, the requisite fairness, to permit those 
who depended on him so much for their happiness, to 
share equitably in the good things that Providence had so 
liberally bestowed on himself. In other words, he made 
two people comfortable by paying a generous price for a 
housekeeper ; his daughter, in the first place, by releasing 
her from cares that necessarily formed no more a part of 
her duties than it w r ould be a part of her duty to sweep the 
pavement before the door ; and in the next place, a very 
respectable woman, who was glad to obtain so good a 
home on so easy terms. To this simple and just expedient 
Eve was indebted for being at the head of one of the 
quietest, most truly elegant, and best ordered establish- 
ments in America, with no other demands on her time 
than that which was necessary to issue a few orders in the 
morning, and to examine a few accounts once a week. 

One of the first and most acceptable of the visits that 
Eve received was from her cousin, Grace Van Cortlandt, 
who was in the country at the moment of her arrival, but 
who hurried back to town to meet her old schoolfellow 
and kinswoman, the instant she heard of her having 
landed. Eve Effingham and Grace Van Cortlandt were 
sisters’ children, and had been born within a month of 
each other. As the latter was without father or mother, 
most of their time had been passed together, until the 
former was taken abroad, when a separation unavoidably 
ensued. Mr. Effingham ardently desired, and had actually 
designed to take his niece with him to Europe, but her 
paternal grandfather, who was still living, objected his 
years and affection, and the scheme was reluctantly aban- 
doned. This grandfather was now dead, and Grace had 
been left, with a very ample fortune, almost entirely the 
mistress of her own movements. 

The moment of the meeting between these two warm- 
hearted and sincerely attached young women was one of 
great interest and anxiety to both. They retained for 
each other the tenderest love, though the years that had 
separated them had given rise to so many new impressions 
and habits, that they did not prepare themselves for the 
interview without apprehension. This interview took 


HOME AS FOUND. 


9 


place about a week after Eve was established in Hudson 
Square, and at an hour earlier than was usual for the re- 
ception of visits. Hearing a carriage stop before the 
door, and the bell ring, our heroine stole a glance from 
behind a curtain, and recognized her cousin as she 
alighted. 

“ Qu'avez-vous, ma chereV ’ demanded Mademoiselle Vief- 
ville, observing that her eleve trembled and grew pale. 

“ It is my cousin, Miss Van Cortlandt — she whom I 
loved as a sister — we now meet for the first time in so 
many years ! ” 

“ Bien — c' est une ires jolie jeunc personnel ” returned the 
governess, taking a glance from the spot Eve had just 
quitted. “ Sur le rapport de la personae , ma chcre , vous devriez 
etre contente , an mo ins.” 

“ If you will excuse me, Mademoiselle, I will go down 
alone — I think I should prefer to meet Grace without wit- 
nesses, in the first interview.” 

“ Tres volontiers. Fdle est par ente, et c' est bien naturel.” 

Eve on this expressed approbation met her maid at the 
door, as she came to announce that Mademoiselle de Cort- 
landt was in the library, and descended slowly to meet 
her. The library was lighted from above by means of a 
small dome, and Grace had unconsciously placed herself 
in the very position that a painter would have chosen, had 
she been about to sit for her portrait. A strong, full, rich 
light fell obliquely on her, as Eve entered, displaying her 
fine person and beautiful features to the very best advan- 
tage, and they were features and a person that are not seen 
every day, even in a country where female beauty is so 
common. She was in a carriage dress, and her toilette 
was rather more elaborate than Eve had been accustomed 
to see at that hour, but still Eve thought she had seldom 
seen a more lovely young creature. Some such thoughts 
also passed through the mind of Grace herself, who, though 
struck, with a woman’s readiness in such matters, with the 
severe simplicity of Eve’s attire, as well as with its entire 
elegance, was more struck with the charms of her counte- 
nance and figure. There was, in truth, a strong resem- 
blance between them, though each was distinguished by 
an expression suited to her character, and to the habits of 
her mind. 


IO 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“Miss Effingham!” said Grace, advancing a step to 
meet the lady who entered, while her voice was scarcely 
audible and her limbs trembled. 

“ Miss Van Cortlandt ! ” said Eve, in the same low, 
smothered tone. 

This formality caused a chill in both, and each uncon- 
sciously stopped and courtesied. Eve had been so much 
struck with the coldness of the American manner during 
the week she had been at home, and Grace was so sensi- 
tive on the subject of the opinion of one who had seen so 
much of Europe, that there was great danger, at that criti- 
cal moment, the meeting would terminate unpropitiously. 

Thus far, however, all had be ous, though 



bosoms of 


the strong feelings that were 


both had been so completely suppressed. But the smile, 
cold and embarrassed as it was, that each gave as she cour- 
tesied, had the sweet character of her childhood in it, and 
recalled to both the girlish and affectionate intercourse of 
their younger days. 

“Grace!” said Eve, eagerly advancing a step or two 
impetuously, and blushing like the dawn. 

“ Eve ! ” 

Each opened her arms, and in a moment they were 
locked in a long and fervent embrace. This was the com- 
mencement of their former intimacy, and before night 
Grace was domesticated in her uncle’s house. It is true 
that Miss Effingham perceived certain peculiarities about 
Miss Van Cortlandt that she had rather were absent ; and 
Miss Van Cortlandt would have felt more at ease had Miss 
Effingham a little less reserve of manner on certain sub- 
jects that the latter had been taught to think interdicted. 
Notwithstanding these slight separating shades in charac- 
ter, however, the natural affection was warm and sincere ; 
and if Eve, according to Grace’s notions, was a little stately 
and formal, she was polished and courteous ; and if Grace, 
according to Eve’s notions, was a little too easy and un- 
reserved, she was feminine and delicate. 

We pass over the three or four days that succeeded, 
during which Eve had got to understand something of 
her new position, and we will come at once to a conversa- 
tion between the cousins, that will serve to let the reader 
more intimately into the opinions, habits, and feelings of 


HOME AS FOUND. 


ir 


both, as well as to open the real subject of our narrative. 
This conversation took place in that very library which 
had witnessed their first" interview, soon after breakfast, 
and while the young ladies were still alone. 

“ I suppose, Eve, you will have to visit the Greens. 
They are Hajjis, and were much in society last winter.” 

“ Hajjis ! You surely do not mean, Grace, that they 
have been to Mecca?” 

“ Not at all : only to Paris, my dear; that makes a Hajji 
in New York.” 

“ And does it entitle the pilgrim to wear the green tur- 
ban ? ” asked Eve, laughing. 

“ To wear anything, Miss Effingham ; green, blue, or 
yellow, and to cause it to pass for elegance.” 

“ And which is the favorite color with the family you 
have mentioned ? ” 

“It ought to be the first, in compliment to the name, 
but, if truth must be said, I think they betray an affection 
for all, with not a few of the half-tints in addition.” 

“ I am afraid they are too prononcees for us, by this de- 
scription. I am no great admirer, Grace, of walking rain- 
bows.” 

“ Too Green, you would have said, had you dared ; but 
you are a Hajji too, and even the Greens know that a 
Hajji never puns, unless, indeed, it might be one from 
Philadelphia. But you will visit these people ?” 

“Certainly, if they are in society and render it neces^ 
sary by their own civilities.” 

“They are in society, in virtue of their rights as Hajjis; 
but as they passed three months at Paris, you probably 
know something of them.” 

“ They may not have been there at the same time with 
ourselves,” returned Eve, quietly, “and Paris is a very 
large town. Hundreds of people come and go that one 
never hears of. I do not remember those you have men- 
tioned.” 

“ I wish you may escape them, for, in my untravelled 
judgment, they are anything but agreeable, notwithstand- 
ing all they have seen or pretend to have seen.” 

“It is very possible to have been all over Christendom, 
and to remain exceedingly disagreeable ; besides, one may 
see a great deal, yet see very little of a good quality.” 


12 


HOME AS FOUND. 


A pause of two or three minutes followed, during which 
Eve read a note, and her cousin played with the leaves of 
a book. 

“ I wish I knew your real opinion of us, Eve,” the last 
suddenly exclaimed. “ Why not be frank with so near a 
relative ; tell me honestly, now — are you reconciled to 
your country ? ” 

“You are the eleventh person who has asked me this 
question, which I find very extraordinary, as I have never 
quarrelled with my country.” 

“ Nay, I do not mean exactly that. I wish to hear how 
our society has struck one who has been educated abroad.” 

“ You wish, then, for opinions that can have no great 
value, since my experience at home extends only to a fort- 
night. But you have many books on the country, and 
some written by very clever persons ; why not consult 
them ? ” 

“ Oh ! you mean the travellers. None of them are worth 
a second thought, and we hold them, one and all, in great 
contempt.” 

“Of that I can have no manner of doubt, as one and 
all you are constantly protesting it, in the highways and 
byways. There is no more certain sign of contempt than 
to be incessantly dwelling on its intensity ! ” 

Grace had great quickness, as well as her cousin, and 
though provoked at Eve’s quiet hit, she had the good sense 
and the good-nature to laugh. 

“ Perhaps we do protest and disdain a little too strenu- 
ously for good taste, if not to gain believers ; but surely, 
Eve, you do not support these travellers in all that they 
have written of us ? ” 

“Not in half, I can assure you. My father and cousin 
Jack have discussed them too often in my presence to 
leave me in ignorance of the very many political blunders 
they have made in particular.” 

“Political blunders ! I know nothing of them, and had 
rather thought them right in most of what they said about 
our politics. But, surely, neither your father nor Mr. 
John Effingham corroborates what they say of our 
society ! ” 

“ I cannot answer for either, on that point.” 

“ Speak, then, for yourself. Do you think them right ?” 


HOME AS FOUND. 


J 3 


u You should remember, Grace, that I have not yet seen 
any society in New York.” 

“ No society, dear ! Why, you were at the Hendersons’, 
and the Morgans’, and the Drewetts’ ; three of the greatest 
reu?iions that we have had in two winters ! ” 

“ I did not know that you meant those unpleasant 
crowds, by society.” 

“ Unpleasant crowds ! Why, child, that is society, is it 
not ?” 

“Not what I have been taught to consider such; I 
rather think it would be better to call it company.” 

“ And is not this what is called society in Paris ? ” 

“As far from it as possible ; it maybe an excrescence of 
society ; one of its forms ; but by no means society itself. It 
would be as true to call cards, which are sometimes intro- 
duced in the world, society, as to call a ball given in two 
small and crowded rooms, society. They are merely two of the 
modes in which idlers endeavor to vary their amusements.” 

“ But we have little else than these balls, the morning 
visits, and an occasional evening in which there is no 
dancing.” 

“ I am sorry to hear it ; for, in that case, you can have 
no society.” 

“ And is it different at Paris — or Florence, or Rome ? ” 

“Very. In Paris there are many houses open every 
evening to which we can go with little ceremony. Our 
sex appears in them, dressed according to what a gentle- 
man I overheard conversing at Mrs. Henderson’s would 
call their ‘ ulterior intentions ’ for the night ; some at- 
tired in the simplest manner, others dressed for concerts, 
for the opera, for court even ; some on the way from a 
dinner, and others going to a late ball. All this matter-of- 
course variety adds to the ease and grace of the company, 
and coupled with perfect good manners, a certain knowl- 
edge of passing events, pretty modes of expression, an 
accurate and even utterance, the women usually find the 
means of making themselves agreeable. Their sentiment 
is sometimes a little heroic, but this one must overlook, 
and it is a taste, moreover, that is falling into disuse, as 
people read better books.” 

“And you prefer this heartlessness, Eve, to the nature 
of your own country ?” 


14 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“ I do not know that quiet retinue and a good tone are 
a whit more heartless than flirting, giggling, and childish- 
ness. There may be more nature in the latter, certainly, 
but it is scarcely as agreeable, after one has fairly got rid 
of the nursery.” 

Grace looked vexed, but she loved her cousin too sin- 
cerely to be angry. A secret suspicion that Eve was right, 
too, came in aid of her affection, and while her little foot 
moved, she maintained her good-nature, a task not always 
attainable for those who believe that their own “ superla- 
tives ” scarcely reach to other people’s “positives.” At 
this critical moment, when there was so much danger of a 
jar in the feelings of these two young females, the library 
door opened, and Pierre, Mr. Effingham’s own man, an- 
nounced — 

“ Monsieur Bragg.” % 

“ Monsieur who ? ” asked Eve, in surprise. 

“Monsieur Bragg,” returned Pierre, in French, “desires 
to see mademoiselle.” 

“You mean my father — I know no such person.” 

“He inquired first for monsieur, but understanding 
monsieur was out, he next asked to have the honor of see- 
ing mademoiselle.” 

“Is it what they call a person in England, Pierre ?” 

Old Pierre smiled, as he answered : 

“ He has the air, mademoiselle, though he esteems him- 
self a personage, if I might take the liberty of judging.” 

“Ask him for his card — there must be a mistake, I 
think.” 

While this short conversation took place, Grace Van 
Cortlandt .was sketching a cottage with a pen, without 
attending to a word that was said. But, when Eve received 
the card from Pierre and read aloud, with the tone of sur- 
prise that the name would be apt to excite in a novice in 
the art of American nomenclature, the words “ Aristabulus 
Bragg,” her cousin began to laugh. 

“ Who can this possibly be, Grace ? Did you ever hear 
of such a person, and what right can he have to wish to 
see me ? ” 

“ Admit him, by all means ; it is your father’s land agent, 
and he may wish to leave some message for my uncle. 
You will be obliged to make his acquaintance, sooner or 


HOME AS FOUND. 


*5 


later, and it may as well be done now as at another 
time.” 

“ You have shown this gentleman into the front drawing- 
room, Pierre ? ” 

“ Qui mademoiselle 

“ I will ring when you are wanted.” 

Pierre withdrew, and Eve opened her secretaire, out of 
which she took a small manuscript book, over the leaves 
of which she passed her fingers rapidly. 

“ Here it is,” she said, smiling, ‘“Mr. Aristabulus Bragg, 
Attorney and Counsellor-at-Law, and the agent of the 
Templeton estate.’ This precious little work, you must 
understand, Grace, contains sketches of the characters of 
such persons as I shall be the most likely to see, by John 
Effingham, A.M. It is a sealed volume, of course, but there 
can be no harm in reading the part that treats of our pres- 
ent visitor, and, with your permission, we will have it in 
common : ‘Mr. Aristabulus Bragg was born in one of the 
western counties of Massachusetts, and emigrated to New 
York, after receiving his education, at the mature age of 
nineteen ; at twenty-one he was admitted to the bar, and 
for the last seven years he has been a successful practi- 
tioner in all the courts of Otsego, from the justice’s to the 
circuit. His talents are undeniable, as he commenced his 
education at fourteen and terminated it at twenty-one, the 
law course included. This man is an epitome of all that 
is good and all that is bad in a very large class of his fel- 
low-citizens. He is quick-witted, prompt in action, enter- 
prising in all things in which he has nothing to lose, but 
wary and cautious in all things in which he has a real stake, 
and ready to turn not only his ’hand, but his heart and his 
principles, to anything that offers an advantage. With 
him, literally, “ nothing is too high to be aspired to, noth- 
ing too low to be done.” He will run for Governor, or 
for town clerk, just as opportunities occur, is expert in all 
the practices of his profession, has had a quarter’s danc- 
ing, with three years in the classics, and turned his atten- 
tion toward medicine and divinity, before he finally settled 
down into the law. Such a compound of shrewdness, im- 
pudence, common-sense, pretension, humility, cleverness, 
vulgarity, kind-heartedness, duplicity, selfishness, law- 
honesty, moral fraud and mother wit, mixed up with a 


i6 


HOME AS FOUND. 


smattering of learning and much penetration in practical 
things, can hardly be described, as any one' of his promi- 
nent qualities is certain to be met by another quite as ob- 
vious that is almost its converse. Mr. Bragg, in short, is 
purely a creature of circumstances, his qualities pointing 
him out for either a member of Congress or a deputy 
sheriff, offices that he is equally ready to fill. I have em- 
ployed him to watch over the estate of your father, in the 
absence of the latter, on the principle that one practised 
in tricks is the best qualified to detect and expose them, 
and with the certainty that no man will trespass with im- 
punity, so long as the courts continue to tax bills of costs 
with their present liberality.’ You appear to know the 
gentleman, Grace ; is this character of him faithful ? ” 

“ I know nothing of bills of costs and deputy sheriffs, but 
I do know that Mr. Aristabulus Bragg is an amusing mix- 
ture of strut, humility, roguery, and cleverness. He is 
waiting all this time in the drawing-room, and you had 
better see him, as he may now be almost considered part of 
the family. You know he has been living in the house at 
Templeton, ever since he was installed by Mr. John Effing- 
ham. It was there I had the honor first to meet him.” 

“ First ! Surely you have never seen him anywhere 
else ! ” 

“Your pardon, my dear. He never comes to town with- 
out honoring me with a call. This is the price I pay for 
having had the honor of being an inmate of the same house 
with him for a week.” 

Eve rang the bell, and Pierre made his appearance. 

“ Desire Mr. Bragg to walk into the library.” 

Grace looked demure while Pierre was gone to usher in 
their visitor, and Eve was thinking of the medley of quali- 
ties John Effingham had assembled in his description, as 
the door opened, and the subject of her contemplation en- 
tered. 

“Monsieur Aristabule,” said Pierre, eyeing the card, but 
sticking at the first name. 

Mr. Aristabulus Bragg was advancing with an easy as- 
surance to make his bow to the ladies, when the more fin- 
ished air and quiet dignity of Miss Effingham, who was 
standing, so far disconcerted him, as completely to upset 
his self-possession. As Grace had expressed it, in con- 


HOME AS FOUND. 


17 


sequence of having lived three years in the old residence 
at Templeton, he had begun to consider himself a part of 
the family, and at home he never spoke of the young lady 
without calling her “Eve,” or “ Eve Effingham.” But he 
found it a very different thing to affect familiarity among 
his associates, and to practise it in the very face of its sub- 
ject ; and, although seldom at a loss for words of some 
sort or another, he was now actually dumbfounded. Eve 
relieved his awkwardness by directing Pierre, with her eye, 
to hand a chair, and first speaking. 

“I regret that my father is not in,” she said, by way of 
turning the visit from herself ; “but he is to be expected 
every moment. Are you lately from Templeton ?” 

Aristabulus drew T his breath, and recovered enough of 
his ordinary tone of manner to reply with a decent regard 
to his character for self-command. The intimacy that he 
had intended to establish on the spot was temporarily de- 
feated, it is true, and without his exactly knowing how it 
had been effected ; for it was merely the steadiness of the 
young lady, blended as it was with a polished reserve, that 
had thrown him to a distance he could not explain. He 
felt immediately, and with taste that did his sagacity credit, 
that his footing in this quarter was only to be obtained by 
unusually slow and cautious means. Still Mr. Bragg was a 
man of great decision, and, in his way, of very far-sighted 
views ; and singular as it may seem, at that unpropitious 
moment, he mentally determined that, at no very distant 
day, he would make Miss Eve Effingham his wife. 

“I hope Mr. Effingham enjoys good health,” he said, 
with some such caution as a rebuked school-girl enters on 
the recitation of her task — “ he enjoyed bad health I hear 
(Mr. Aristabulus Bragg, though so shrewd, was far from 
critical in his modes of speech) when he went to Europe, 
and, after travelling so far in such bad company, it would 
be no more than fair that he should have a little respite as 
he approaches home and old age.” 

Had Eve been told that the man who uttered this nice 
sentiment, and that too in accents as uncouth and provin- 
cial as the thought was finished and lucid, actually pre- 
sumed to think of her as his bosom companion, it is not 
easy to say which would have predominated in her mind, 
mirth or resentment. But Mr. Bragg was not in the habit 


2 


1 8 


HOME AS FOUND. 


of letting his secrets escape him prematurely, and certainly 
this was one that none but a wizard could have discovered 
without the aid of a direct oral or written communication. 

“ Are you lately from Templeton ? ” repeated Eve, a little 
surprised that the gentleman did not see fit to answer the 
question, which was the only one that, as it seemed to her, 
could have common interest with them both. 

“ I left home the day before yesterday,” Aristabulus now 
deigned to reply. 

“It is so long since I saw our beautiful mountains, and 
I was then so young, that I feel a great impatience to re- 
visit them, though the pleasure must be deferred until 
spring.” 

“ I conclude they are the handsomest mountains in the 
known world, Miss Effingham ! ” 

“ That is much more than I shall venture to claim for 
them ; but, according to my imperfect recollection, and, 
what I esteem of far more importance, according to the 
united testimony of Mr. John Effingham and my father, I 
think they must be very beautiful.” 

Aristabulus looked up, as if he had a facetious thing to 
say, and he even ventured on a smile, while he made his 
answer. 

“ I hope Mr. John Effingham has prepared you for a 
great change in the house ? ” 

“ We know that it has been repaired and altered under 
his directions. That was done at my father’s request.” 

“We consider it denationalized, Miss Effingham, there 
being nothing like it, west of Albany at least.” 

“ I should be sorry to find that my cousin has subjected 
us to this imputation,” said Eve, smiling — perhaps a little 
equivocally ; “ the architecture of America being generally 
so simple and pure. Mr. Effingham laughs at his own im- 
provements, however, in which, he says, he has only carried 
out the plans of the original artiste, who worked very much 
in what was called the composite order.” 

“ You allude to Mr. Hiram Doolittle, a gentleman I 
never saw ; though I hear he has left behind him many 
traces of his progress in the newer States. Ex pede Hercu- 
lem , as we say in the classics, Miss Effingham. I believe it 
is the general sentiment that Mr. Doolittle’s designs have 
been improved on, though most people think that the 


HOME AS FOUND. 


r 9 


Grecian or Roman architecture, which is so much in use in 
America, would be more republican. But everybody knows 
that Mr. John Effingham is not much of a republican.” 

Eve did not choose to discuss her kinsman’s opinions 
with Mr. Aristabulus Bragg, and she quietly remarked that 
she “ did not know that the imitations of the ancient archi- 
tecture, of which there are so many in the country, were 
owing to attachment to republicanism.” 

“ To what else can it be owing, Miss Eve ? ” 

“ Sure enough,” said Grace Van Cortlandt; “it is un- 
suited to the materials, the, climate, and the uses ; and 
some very powerful motive, like that mentioned by Mr. 
Bragg, could alone overcome these obstacles.” 

Aristabulus started from his seat, and making sundry 
apologies, declared his previous unconsciousness that Miss 
Van Cortlandt was present ; all of which was true enough, 
as he had been so much occupied mentally with her cousin 
as not to have observed her, seated as she was partly be- 
hind a screen. Grace received the excuses favorably, and 
the conversation was resumed. 

“ I am sorry that my cousin should offend the taste of 
the country,” said Eve, “ but as we are to live in the house 
the punishment will fall heaviest on the offenders.” 

“ Do not mistake me, Miss Eve,” returned Aristabulus 
in a little alarm, for he too well understood the influence 
and wealth of John Effingham, not to wish to be on good 
terms with him, “do not mistake me. I admire the house, 
and know it to be a perfect specimen of a pure archi- 
tecture in its way, but then public opinion is not yet quite 
up to it. I see all its beauties, I would wish you to know, 
but then there are many, a majority perhaps, who do not, 
and these persons think they ought to be consulted about 
such matters.” 

“ I believe Mr. John Effingham thinks less of his own 
work than you seem to think of it yourself, sir, for I have 
frequently heard him laugh at it as a mere enlargement of 
the merits of the Composite order. He calls it a caprice 
rather'than a taste ; nor do I see what concern a majority, 
as you term them, can have with a house that does not be- 
long to them.” 

Aristabulus was surprised that any one could disregard 
a majority ; for in this respect he a good deal resembled 


20 


HOME AS FOUND. 


Mr. Dodge, though running a different career ; and the 
look of surprise he gave was natural and open. 

“ I do not mean that the public has a legal right to con- 
trol the tastes of the citizen,” he said, “ but in a republican 
government, you undoubtedly understand, Miss Eve, it 
will rule in all things.” 

“ I can understand that one would wish to see his neigh- 
bor use good taste, as it helps to embellish a country ; but 
the man who should consult the whole neighborhood be- 
fore he built would be very apt to cause a complicated 
house to be erected, if he paid much respect to the differ- 
ent opinions he received ; or* what is quite as likely, apt to 
have no house at all.” 

“I think you are mistaken, Miss Effingham, for the pub- 
lic sentiment just now runs almost exclusively and popu- 
larly into the Grecian school. We build little besides 
temples for our churches, our banks, our taverns, our 
court-houses, and our dwellings. A friend of mine has just 
built a brewery on the model of the Temple of the Winds.” 

“ Had it been a mill, one might understand the conceit,” 
said Eve, who now began to perceive that her visitor had 
some latent humor, though he produced it in a manner to 
induce one to think him anything but a droll. “The 
mountains must be doubly beautiful if they are decorated 
in the way you mention. I sincerely hope, Grace, that I 
shall find the hills as pleasant as they now exist in my 
recollection.” 

“ Should they not prove to be quite as lovely as you 
imagine, Miss Effingham,” returned Aristabulus, who saw 
no impropriety in answering a remark made to Miss Van 
Cortlandt, or anyone else, “ I hope you will have the kind- 
ness to conceal the fact from the world.” 

“ I am afraid that would exceed my power — the disap- • 
pointment would be so strong. May I ask why you show 
so much interest in my keeping so cruel a mortification to 
myself ? ” 

“Why, Miss Eve,” said Aristabulus, looking grave, “I 
am afraid that our people would hardly bear the expres- 
sion of such an opinion from you.” 

“ From me ! — and why not from me, in particular ? ” 

“ Perhaps it is because they think you have travelled, 
and have seen other countries.” 


HOME AS FOUND. 


21 


“And is it only those who have not travelled, and who 
have no means of knowing the value of what they say, 
that are privileged to criticise ?” 

“ I cannot exactly explain my own meaning, perhaps, 
but I think Miss Grace will understand me. Do you not 
agree with me, Miss Van Cortlandt, in thinking it would 
be safer for one who never saw any other mountains, to 
complain of the tameness and monotony of our own, than 
for one who had passed a whole life among the Andes and 
the Alps ? ” 

Eve smiled, for she saw that Mr. Bragg was capable of 
detecting and laughing at provincial pride, even while he 
was so mucli under its influence ; and Grace colored, for 
she had the consciousness of having already betrayed 
some of this very silly sensitiveness in her intercourse 
with her cousin, in connection with other subjects. A re- 
ply was unnecessary, however, as the door just then 
opened, and John Effingham made his appearance. The 
meeting between the two gentlemen, for we suppose Aris- 
tabulus must be included in the category, by courtesy, if 
not of rights was more cordial than Eve had expected to 
witness, for each really entertained a respect for the other, 
in reference to a merit of a particular sort ; Mr. Bragg 
esteeming Mr. John Effingham as a wealthy and caustic 
cynic, and Mr. John Effingham regarding Mr. Bragg 
much as the owner of a dwelling regards a valuable house- 
dog. After a few moments of conversation the two with- 
drew together ; and just as the ladies were about to de- 
scend to the drawing-room, previously to dinner, Pierre 
announced that a plate had been ordered for the land 
agent. 


CHAPTER II. 

“ I know that Deformed ; he has been a vile thief this seven years ; he 
goes up and down like a gentleman.” Much Ado about Nothing. 

Eve and her cousin found Sir George Templemore and 
Captain Truck in the drawing-room, the former having 
lingered in New York, with a desire to be near his friends, 
and the latter being on the point of sailing for Europe, in 
his regular turn. To these must be added Mr. Bragg and 


22 


HOME AS FOUND. 


the ordinary inmates of the house, when the reader will 
get a view of the whole party. 

Aristabulus had never before sat down to as brilliant a 
table, and for the first time in his life he saw candles lighted 
at a dinner ; but he was not a man to be disconcerted at a 
novelty. Had he been a European of the same origin and 
habits, awkwardness would have betrayed him fifty times 
before the dessert made its appearance ; but being the man 
he was, one who overlooked a certain prurient politeness 
that rather illustrated his deportment, might very well 
have permitted him to pass among the oi polloi of the world, 
were it not for a peculiar management in the way of pro- 
viding for himself. It is true, he asked everyone near him 
to eat of everything he could himself reach, and that he 
used his knife as a coal-heaver uses his shovel ; but the 
company he was in, though fastidious in its own deport- 
ment, was altogether above the silver-forkisms, and this 
portion of his demeanor, if it did not escape undetected, 
passed away unnoticed. Not so, however, with the pecu- 
liarity already mentioned as an exception. This touch of 
deportment (or management, perhaps, is the better word), 
being characteristic of the man, it deserves to be men- 
tioned a little in detail. 

The service at Mr. Effingham’s table was made in the 
quiet but thorough manner that distinguishes a French 
dinner. Every dish was removed, carved by the domestics, 
and handed in turn to each guest. But there was a delay 
and a finish in this arrangement that suited neither Aris- 
tabulus’s go-a-head-ism, nor his organ of acquisitiveness. 
Instead of waiting, therefore, for the more graduated move- 
ments of the domestics, he began to take care of himself, 
an office that he performed with a certain dexterity that 
he had acquired by frequenting ordinaries — a school, by the 
way, in which he had obtained most of his notions of the 
proprieties of the table. One or two slices were obtained 
in the usual manner, or by means of the regular service ; 
aud then, like one who had laid the foundation of a for- 
tune by some lucky windfall in the commencement of his 
career, he began to make accessions, right and left, as op- 
portunity offered. Sundry entremets, or light dishes, that 
had a peculiarly tempting appearance, came first under 
his grasp. Of these he soon accumulated all within his 


HOME AS FOUND. 


2 3 


reach, by taxing his neighbors, when he ventured to send 
his plate here and there, or wherever he saw a dish that 
promised to reward his trouble. By such means, which 
were resorted to, however, with a quiet and unobtrusive 
assiduity that escaped much observation, Mr. Bragg con- 
trived to make his own plate a sample epitome of the first 
course. It contained in the centre, fish, beef, and ham ; 
and around these staple articles he had arranged croquettes, 
rognons, ragouts, vegetables, and other light things, until 
not only was the plate completely covered, but it was ac- 
tually covered in double and triple layers ; mustard, cold 
butter, salt, and even pepper garnishing its edges. These 
different accumulations were the work of time and address, 
and most of the company had repeatedly, changed their 
plates before Aristabulus had eaten a mouthful, the soup 
excepted. The happy moment when his ingenuity was to 
be rewarded had now arrived, and the land agent was 
about to commence the process of mastication, or of deg- 
lutition rather, for he troubled himself very little with the 
first operation, when the report of a cork drew his atten- 
tion toward the champagne. To Aristabulus this wine 
never came amiss, for relishing its piquancy, he had never 
gone far enough into the science of the table to learn 
which were the proper moments for using it. As respected 
all the others at table, this moment had in truth arrived, 
though, as respected himself, he was no nearer to it, oc- 
cording to a regulated taste, than when he first took his 
seat. Perceiving that Pierre was serving it, however, he of- 
fered his own glass, and enjoyed a delicious instant as he 
swallowed a beverage that much surpassed anything he 
had ever known to issue out of the waxed and leaded noz- 
zles that, pointed like so many enemies’ batteries loaded 
with headaches and disordered stomachs, garnished sundry 
village bars of his acquaintance. 

Aristabulus finished his glass at a draught, and when he 
took breath he fairly smacked his lips. That was an un- 
lucky instant ; his plate, burdened with all its treasures, 
being removed at this unguarded moment ; the man who 
performed this unkind office fancying that a dislike to the 
dishes could alone have given rise to such an omnium- 
gatherum. 

It was necessary to commence de novo , but this could no 


24 


HOME AS FOUND. 


longer be done with the first course, which was removed, 
and Aristabulus set to with zeal forthwith on the game. 
Necessity compelled him to eat, as the different dishes 
were offered ; and such was his ordinary assiduity with 
the knife and fork, that, at the end of the second remove, 
he had actually disposed of more food than any other 
person at table. He now began to converse, and we shall 
open the conversation at the precise point in the dinner 
when it was in the power of Aristabulus to make one of 
the interlocutors. 

Unlike Mr. Dodge, he had betrayed no peculiar interest 
in the baronet, being a man too shrewd and worldly to set 
his heart on trifles of any sort ; and Mr. Bragg no more 
hesitated about replying to Sir George Templemore or 
Mr. Effingham, than he would have hesitated about an- 
swering one of his own nearest associates. With him age 
and experience formed no particular claims to be heard, 
and, as to rank, it is true he had some vague ideas about 
there being such a thing in the militia, but as it was un- 
salaried rank, he attached no great importance to it. Sir 
George Templemore was inquiring concerning the re- 
cording of deeds, a regulation that had recently attracted 
attention in England ; and one of Mr. Effingham’s replies 
contained some immaterial inaccuracy, which Aristabulus 
took occasion to correct, as his first appearance in the 
general discourse. 

“ I ask pardon, sir,” he concluded his explanations by 
saying, “ but I ought to know these little niceties, having 
served a short part of a term as a county clerk, to fill a 
vacancy occasioned by a death.” 

“You mean, Mr. Bragg, that you were employed to 
write in a county clerk’s office,” observed John Effingham, 
who so much disliked untruth, that he did not hesitate 
much about refuting it, or what he now fancied to be an 
untruth. 

“As' county clerk, sir. Major Pippin died a year before 
his time was out, and I got the appointment. As regular 
a county clerk, sir, as there is in the fifty-six counties of 
New York.” 

“ When I had the honor to engage you as Mr. Effing- 
ham’s agent, sir,” returned the other, a little sternly, for 
he felt his own character for veracity involved in that of 


HOME AS FOUND. 


25 


the subject of his selection, “ I believed, indeed, that you 
were writing in the office, but I did not understand it was 
as the clerk.” 

“Very true, Mr. John,” returned Aristabulus, without 
discovering the least concern, “ I was then engaged by my 
successor as a clerk ; but a few months earlier, 1 filled the 
office myself.” 

“ Had you gone on, in the regular line of promotion, my 
dear sir,” pithily inquired Captain Truck, “ to what prefer- 
ment would you have risen by this time ? ” 

“ I believe I understand you, gentlemen,” returned the 
unmoved Aristabulus, who perceived a general smile. “ I 
know that some people are particular about keeping 
pretty much on the same level, as to office ; but I hold to 
no such doctrine. If one good thing cannot be had, I do 
not see that it is a reason for rejecting another. I ran 
that year for sheriff, and finding that I was not strong 
enough to carry the county, I accepted my successor’s 
offer to write in the office, until something better might 
turn up.” 

“You practised all this time, I believe, Mr. Bragg,” ob- 
served John Effingham. 

“ I did a little in that way too, sir ; or as much as I 
could. Law is flat with us of late, and many of the at- 
torneys are turning their attention to other callings.” 

“And pray, sir,” asked Sir George, “what is the favorite 
pursuit with most of them just now ? ” 

“ Some our way have gone into the horse-line ; but 
much the greater portion are just now dealing in western 
cities.” 

“ In western cities ! ” exclaimed the baronet, looking as 
if he distrusted a mystification. 

“ In such articles, and in mill-seats, and railroad lines, 
and other expectations.” 

“ Mr. Braggmeans that they are buying and selling lands 
on which it is hoped all these conveniences may exist, a 
century hence,” explained John Effingham. 

“The hope is for next year, or next week even, Mr. 
John,” returned Aristabulus with a sly look, “ though you 
may be very right as to the reality. Great fortunes have 
been made on a capital of hopes, lately in this country.” 

“ And have you been able yourself to resist these temp- 


26 


HOME AS FOUND. 


fations ?” asked Mr. Effingham. “ I feel doubly indebted 
to you, sir, that you should have continued to devote your 
time to my interests, while so many better things were 
offering.” 

“ It was my duty, sir,” said Aristabulus, bowing so 
much the lower, from the consciousness that he had ac- 
tually deserted his post for some months, to embark in 
the western speculations that were then so active in the 
country, “ not to say my pleasure. There are many 
profitable occupations in this country, Sir George, that 
have been overlooked in the eagerness to embark in the 
town-trade ” 

“ Mr. Bragg does not mean trade in town, but trade in 
towns,” explained John Effingham. 

“Yes, sir, the traffic in cities. I never come this way 
without casting an eye about me, in order to see if there 
is anything to be done that is useful ; and I confess that 
several available opportunities have offered, if one Pad 
capital. Milk is a good business.” 

“ Le lait ! ” exclaimed Mademoiselle Viefville, involun- 
tarily. 

“Yes, ma’am, for ladies as well as ' gentlemen. Sweet 
potatoes I have heard well spoken of, and peaches are 
really making some rich men’s fortunes.” 

“ All of which are honesterand better occupations than 
the traffic in cities, that you have mentioned,” quietly ob- 
served Mr. Effingham. 

Aristabulus looked up in a little surprise, for with him 
everything was eligible that returned a good profit, and 
all things honest that the law did not actually punish. 
Perceiving, however, that the company was disposed to 
listen, and having by this time recovered the lost ground, 
in the way of food, he cheerfully resumed his theme. 

“ Many families have left Otsego, this and the last sum- 
mer, Mr. Effingham, as emigrants for the West. The fever 
has spread far and wide.” 

“ The fever ! Is old Otsego,” for so its inhabitants loved 
to call a county of half a century’s existence, it being vene- 
rable by comparison, “ is old Otsego losing its well-estab- 
lished character for salubrity ?” 

“ I do not allude to an animal fever, but to the western 
fever.” 


HOME AS FOUND . 


27 


“ Ce pays de Vouest est-il bien malsain ? ” whispered Ma- 
demoiselle Viefville. 

“ Appar eminent, mademoiselle , sous plusieurs rapports .” 

“The western fever has seized old and young, and it has 
carried off many active families from our part of the 
world,” continued Aristabulus, who did not understand the 
little aside just mentioned, and who, of course, did not 
heed it ; “most of the counties adjoining our own have 
lost a considerable portion of their population.” 

“ And they who have gone, do they belong to the per- 
manent families, or are they merely the floating inhabi- 
tants?” inquired Mr. Effingham. 

“ Most of them belong to the regular movers.” 

“ Movers ! ” again exclaimed Sir George— “ is there any 
material part of your population who actually deserve this 
name ? ” 

“ As much so as the man who shoes a horse ought to be 
called a smith, or the man who frames a house a carpen- 
ter,” answered John Effingham. 

“To be sure,” continued Mr. Bragg, “we have a pretty 
considerable leaven of them in our political dough, as well 
as in our active business. I believe, Sir George, that in 
England men are tolerably stationary.” 

“ We love to continue for generations on the same spot. 
We love the tree that our forefathers planted, the roof 
that they built, the fireside by which they sat, the sods 
that cover their remains.” 

“ Very poetical, and I dare say there are situations in 
life in which such feelings come in without much effort. 
It must be a great check to business operations, however, 
in your part of the world, sir ! ” 

“ Business operations ! what is business, as you term it, 
sir, to the affections, to the recollections of ancestry, and 
to the solemn feelings connected with history and tradi- 
tion ? ” 

“ Why, sir, in the way of history, one meets with but 
few incumbrances in this country, but he may do very 
much as interest indicates, so far as that is concerned, at 
least. A nation is much to be pitied that is weighed down 
by the past, in this manner, since its industry and enter- 
prise are constantly impeded by obstacles that grow out 
of its recollections. America may, indeed, be termed a 


28 


HOME AS FOUND . 


happy and a free country, Mr. John Effingham, in this, as 
well as in all other things ! ” 

Sir George Templemore was too well-bred to utter all 
he felt at that moment, as it would unavoidably wound the 
feelings of his hosts, but he was rewarded for his forbear- 
ance by intelligent smiles from Eve and Grace, the latter 
of whom the young baronet fancied, just at that moment, 
was quite as beautiful as her cousin, and if less finished in 
manners, she had the most interesting naivete. 

“ I have been told that most old nations have to strug- 
gle with difficulties that we escape,” returned John Effing- 
ham, “though I confess this is a superiority on our part 
that never before presented itself to my mind.” 

“ The political economists, and even the geographers, 
have overlooked it, but practical men see and feel its ad- 
vantages every hour in the day. I have been told, Sir 
George Templemore, that in England, there are difficul- 
ties in running highways and streets through homesteads 
and dwellings ; and that even a railroad or a canal is 
obliged to make a curve to avoid a church-yard or a tomb- 
stone ? ” 

“ I confess to the sin, sir.” 

“ Our friend Mr. Bragg,” put in John Effingham, “con- 
siders life as all means and no end.” 

“ An end cannot be got at without the means, Mr. John 
Effingham, as I trust you will yourself admit. I am for 
the end of the road at least, and must say that I rejoice in 
being a native of a country in w T hich as few impediments 
as possible exist to onward impulses. The man who 
should resist an improvement in our part of the country, 
on account of his forefathers, would fare badly among his 
contemporaries.” 

“ Will you permit me to ask, Mr. Bragg, if you feel no 
local attachments yourself,” inquired the baronet, throwing 
as much delicacy into the tones of his voice, as a question 
that he felt ought to be an insult to a man’s heart would 
allow — “ if one tree is not more pleasant than another ; the 
house you were born in more beautiful than a house into 
which you never entered ; or the altar at which you have 
long worshipped, more sacred than another at which you 
never knelt ? ” 

“ Nothing gives me greater satisfaction than to answer 


HOME AS FOUND . 


29 


questions of gentlemen that travel through our country,” 
returned Aristabulus, “for I think, in making nations ac- 
quainted with each other, we encourage trade and render 
business more secure. To reply to your inquiry, a human 
being is not a cat, to love a locality rather than its own in- 
terests. I have found some trees much pleasanter than 
others, and the pleasantest tree I can remember was one 
of my own, out of which the sawyers made a thousand 
feet of clear stuff, to say nothing of middlings. The house 
I was born in was pulled down shortly after my birth, as 
indeed has been its successor, so I can tell you nothing 
on that head ; and as for altars, there are none in my per- 
suasion.” 

“ The church of Mr. Bragg has stripped itself as naked 
as he would strip everything else, if he could,” said John 
Effingham. “ I must question if he ever knelt even ; much 
less before the altar.” 

“We are of the standing order, certainly,” returned 
Aristabulus, glancing toward the ladies to discover how 
they took his wit, “and Mr. John Effingham is as near 
right as a man need be, in a matter of faith. In the way 
of houses, Mr. Effingham, I believe it is the general opin- 
ion you might have done better with your own, than to 
have repaired it. Had the materials been disposed of, 
they would have sold well, and by running a street^ 
through the property, a pretty sum might have been real- 
ized.” 

“ In which case I should have been without a home, Mr. 
Bragg.” 

“ It would have been no great matter to get another on 
cheaper land. The old residence would have made a good 
factory or an inn.” 

“Sir, I am a cat, and like the places I have long fre- 
quented.” 

Aristabulus, though not easily daunted, was awed by Mr. 
Effingham’s manner, and Eve saw that her father’s fine 
face had flushed. This interruption, therefore, suddenly 
changed the discourse, which has been related at some 
length, as likely to give the reader a better insight into a 
character that will fill some space in our narrative, than a 
more labored description. 

“ I trust your owners, Captain Truck,” said John Effing- 


30 


HOME AS FOUND. 


ham, by way of turning the conversation into another 
channel, “ are fully satisfied with the manner in which you 
saved their property from the hands of the Arabs ? ” 

“ Men, when money is concerned, are more disposed to 
remember how it was lost than how it was recovered, re- 
ligion and trade being the two poles, on such a point,” re- 
turned the old seaman, with a serious face. “ On the 
whole, my dear sir, I have reason to be satisfied, however ; 
and so long as yon, my passengers and my friends, are not 
inclined to blame me, I shall feel as if I had done at least 
a part of my duty.” 

Eve rose from the table, went to a side-board and re- 
turned, when she gracefully placed before the master of 
the Montauk a rich and beautifully chased punch-bowl in 
silver. Almost at the same moment, Pierre offered a sal- 
ver that contained a capital watch, a pair of small silver 
tongs to hold a coal, and a deck trumpet, in solid silver. 

“These are so many faint testimonials of our feelings,” 
said Eve — “ and you will do us the favor to retain them, as 
evidences of the esteem created by skill, kindness, and 
courage.” 

“ My dear young lady ! ” cried the old tar, touched to the 
soul by the feeling with which Eve acquitted herself of 
this little duty, “ my dear young lady — well, God bless you 
— God bless you all — you too, Mr. John Effingham, for 
that matter — and Sir George— that I should ever have 
taken that runaway for a gentleman and a baronet — though 
I suppose there are some silly baronets, as well as silly 
lords — retain them ? ” glancing furiously at Mr. Aristabulus 
Bragg, “ may the Lord forget me in the heaviest hurri- 
cane, if I ever forget whence these things came, and why 
they were given.” 

Here the worthy captain was obliged to swallow some 
wine, by way of relieving his emotions, and Aristabulus, 
profiting by the opportunity, coolly took the bowl, which 
to use a word of his own, he hefted in his hand, with a 
view to form some tolerably accurate notion of its intrin- 
sic value. Captain Truck’s eye caught the action, and he 
reclaimed his property quite as unceremoniously as it had 
been taken away ; nothing but the presence of the ladies 
prevented an outbreaking that would have amounted to a 
declaration of war. 


HOME A S ' EG UNIX 


3 r 


“ With your permission, sir,” said the captain drily, after 
he had recovered the bowl, not only without the other’s 
consent, but in some degree against his will ; “ this bowl 
is as precious in my eyes as if it were made of my father’s 
bones.” 

“You may indeed think so,” returned the land-agent, 
“ for its cost could not be less than a hundred dollars.” 

“ Cost, sir ! But, my dear young lady, let us talk of the 
real value. For what part of these things am I indebted 
to you ?” 

“The bowl is my offering,” Eva answered smilingly, 
though a tear glistened in her eye, as she witnessed the 
strong unsophisticated feeling of the old tar. “ I thought 
it might serve sometimes to bring me to your recollection, 
when it was well filled in honor of ‘sweethearts and 
wives.’ ” 

“It shall — it shall, by the Lord ; and Mr. Saunders 
needs look to it, if he do not keep this work as bright as a 
cruising frigate’s bottom. To whom do I owe the coal- 
tongs ? ” 

“Those are from Mr. John Effingham, who insists that 
he will come nearer to your heart than any of us, though 
the gift be of so little cost.” 

“ He does not know me, my dear young lady — nobody 
ever got as near my heart as you ; no, not even my own 
dear pious old mother. But, I thank Mr. John Effingham 
from my inmost spirit, and shall seldom smoke without 
thinking of him. The watch I know is Mr. Effingham’s, 
and I ascribe the trumpet to Sir George.” 

The bows of the several gentlemen assured the captain 
he was right, and he shook each of them cordially by the 
hand, protesting, in the fulness of his heart, that nothing 
would give him greater pleasure than to be able to go 
through the same perilous scenes as those from which they 
had so lately escaped, in their good company again. 

While this was going on, Aristabulus, notwithstanding 
the rebuke he had received, contrived to get each article, 
in succession, into his hands, and by dint of poising it on 
a finger, or by examining it, to form some approximative 
notion of its inherent value. The watch he actually 
opened, taking as good a survey of its works as the cir- 
cumstances of the case would very well allow. 


32 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“ I respect these things, sir, more than you respect your 
father’s grave,” said Captain Truck sternly, as he rescued 
the last article from what he thought the impious grasp of 
Aristabulus again, “ and cat or no cat, they sink or swim 
with me for the remainder of the cruise. If there is any 
virtue in a will, which I am sorry to say I hear there is 
not any longer, they shall share my last bed with me, be 
it ashore or be it afloat. My dear young lady, fancy all 
the rest, but depend on it, punch will be sweeter than ever 
taken from this bowl, and ‘sweethearts and wives’ will 
never be so honored again.” 

“We are going to a ball this evening, at the house of 
one with whom I am sufficiently intimate to take the lib- 
erty of introducing a stranger, and I wish, gentlemen,” 
said Mr. Effingham, bowing to Aristabulus and the cap- 
tain, by way of changing the conversation, “you would do 
me the favor to be of our party.” 

Mr. Bragg acquiesced very cheerfully, and quite as a 
matter of course ; while Captain Truck, after protesting 
his unfitness for such scenes, was finally prevailed on by 
John Effingham to comply with the request also. The 
ladies remained at table but a few minutes longer, when 
they retired, Mr. Effingham having dropped into the old 
custom of sitting at the bottle until summoned to the 
drawing-room, a usage that continues to exist in America, 
for a reason no better than the fact that it continues to 
exist in England ; it being almost certain that it will cease 
in New York, the season after it is known to have ceased 
in London. 


CHAPTER III. 

“Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful ! ” — Shakespeare. 

As Captain Truck asked permission to initiate the new 
coal-tongs by lighting a cigar, Sir George Templemore 
contrived to ask Pierre, in an aside, if the ladies would al- 
low him to join them. The desired consent having been 
obtained, the baronet quietly stole from table, and Was 
soon beyond the odors of the dining-room. 

“You miss the censer and the frankincense,” said Eve, 
laughing, as Sir George entered the drawing-room ; “ but 


HOME AS FOUND. 


33 


you will remember we have no church establishment, and 
dare not take such liberties with the ceremonials of the 
altar.” 

“That is a short-lived custom with us, I fancy, though 
far from an unpleasant one. But you do me injustice in 
supposing I am merely running away from the fumes of 
the dinner.” 

“ No, no ; we understand perfectly well that you have 
something to do with the fumes of flattery, and we will at 
once fancy all has been said that the occasion requires. Is 
not our honest old captain a jewel in his way ?” 

“ Upon my word, since you allow me to speak of your 
father’s guests, I do not think it possible to have brought 
together two men who are so completely the opposites of 
each other, as Captain Truck and this Mr. Aristabulus 
Bragg. The latter is quite the most extraordinary person 
in his way it was ever my good fortune to meet with.” 

“ You call him a person, while Pierre calls him a person- 
age ; I fancy he considers it very much as a matter of ac- 
cident, whether he is to pass his days in the one character 
or in the other. Cousin Jack assures me, that while this 
man accepts almost any duty that he chooses to assign 
him, he would not deem it at all a violation of the conven- 
ances to aim at the throne in the White House.” 

“ Certainly with no hopes of ever attaining it ! ’ 

“ One cannot answer for that. The man must undergo 
many essential changes, and much radical improvement, 
before sueh a climax to his fortunes can ever occur ; but 
the instant you do away with the claims of hereditary pow- 
er, the door is opened to a new chapter of accidents. Alex- 
ander of Russia styled himself un heureux accident ; and 
should it ever be our fortune to receive Mr. Bragg as Presi- 
dent, we shall only have to term him un malheureux accident. 
I believe that will contain all the difference.” 

“Your republicanism is indomitable, Miss Effingham, 
and I shall abandon the attempt to convert you to safer 
principles, more especially as I find you supported by both 
the Mr. Effinghams, who, while they condemn so much at 
home, seem singularly attached to their own system at the 
bottom.” 

“ They condemn, Sir George Templemore, because they 
know that perfection is hopeless, and because they feel it 


34 


HOME AS FOUND. 


to be unsafe and unwise to eulogize defects ; and they are 
attached, because near views of other countries have con- 
vinced them that, comparatively at least, bad as we are, we 
are still better than most of our neighbors.” 

“ I can assure you,” said Grace, “that many of the opin- 
ions of Mr. John Effingham, in particular, are not at all the 
opinions that are most in vogue here ; he rather cen- 
sures what we like, and likes what we censure.. Even my 
dear uncle is thought to be a little heterodox on such sub- 
jects.” 

u I can readily believe it,” returned Eve, steadily. “These 
gentleman having become familiar with better things in 
the way of the tastes and of the purely agreeable, cannot 
discredit their own knowledge so much as to extol that 
which their own experience tells them is faulty, or condemn 
that which their own experience tells them is relatively 
good. Now, Grace, if you will reflect a moment, you will 
perceive that people necessarily like the best of their own 
tastes until they come to a knowledge of better, and that 
they as necessarily quarrel with the unpleasant facts that 
surround them, although these facts, as consequences of a 
political system, may be much less painful than those of 
other systems of which they have no knowledge. In the 
one case they like their own best, simply because it is their 
own best ; and they dislike their own worst, because it is 
their own worst. We cherish a taste in the nature of things 
without entering into any comparisons ; for when the means 
of comparison offer, and we find improvements, it ceases 
to be a taste at all, while to complain of any positive griev- 
ance, is the nature of man, I fear.” 

“ I think a republic odious ! ” 

“ La rcpublique est une horreur ! ” 

Grace thought a republic odious, without knowing any- 
thing of any other state of society, and because it contained 
odious things, and Mademoiselle Viefville called a republic 
une horreur , because heads fell and anarchy prevailed in her 
own country during its early struggles for liberty. Though 
Eve seldom spoke more sensibly and never more temper- 
ately than while delivering the foregoing opinions, Sir 
George Templemore doubted whether she had all that ex- 
quisite finesse and delicacy of features that he had so much 
admired, and when Grace burst out in the sudden and 


HOME AS FOUND. 


35 


senseless exclamation we have recorded, he turned toward 
her sweet and animated countenance, which, for the mo- 
ment, he fancied the loveliest of the two. 

Eve Effingham had yet to learn that she had just entered 
into the most intolerant society, meaning purely as society, 
and in connection with what are usually called liberal sen- 
timents, in Christendom. We do not mean by this, that it 
would be less safe to utter a generous opinion in favor of 
human rights in America than in any other country, for 
the laws and the institutions become active in this respect ; 
but simply that the resistance of the more refined to the 
encroachments of the unrefined, has brought about a state 
of feeling — a feeling that is seldom just and never philo- 
sophical — which has created a silent but almost unanimous 
bias against the effects of the institutions in what is called 
the world. In Europe one rarely utters a sentiment of 
this nature under circumstances in which it is safe to do 
so at all, without finding a very general sympathy in the 
auditors ; but in the circle into which Eve had now fallen, 
it was almost considered a violation of the proprieties. We 
do not wish to be understood as saying more than we mean, 
however ; for we have no manner of doubt that a large 
portion of the dissentients even, are so idly, and without 
reflection, or for the very natural reasons already given by 
our heroine ; but we do wish to be understood as meaning 
that such is the outward appearance which American so- 
ciety presents to every stranger, and to every native of the 
country too, on his return from a residence among other 
people. Of its taste, wisdom, and safety we shall not now 
speak, content ourselves with merely saying that the effect 
of Grace’s exclamation on Eve was unpleasant, and that, 
unlike the baronet, she thought her cousin was never less 
handsome than while her pretty face was covered with the 
pettish frown it had assumed for the occasion. 

Sir George Templemore had tact enough to perceive 
there had been a slight jar in the feelings of these two 
young women, and he adroitly changed the conversation. 
With Eve he had entire confidence on the score of pro- 
vincialism, and, without exactly anticipating the part Grace 
would be likely to take in such a discussion, he introduced 
the subject of general society in New York. 

“I am desirous to know,” he said, “if you have your 


3 6 


HOME AS FOUND. 


sets, as we have them in London and Paris. Whether you 
have your Faubourg St. Germain and your Chaussee 
d’Antin ; your Piccadilly, Grosvenor and Russell Squares ?” 

“ I must refer you to Miss Van Cortlandt for an answer 
to that question/’ said Eve. 

Grace looked up blushing ; for there were both novelty 
and excitement in having an intelligent foreigner question 
her on such a subject. 

“ I do not know that I rightly understand the allusion,” 
she said ; “although I am afraid Sir George Templemore 
means to ask if we have distinctions in society ? ” 

“And why afraid, Miss Van Cortlandt ?” 

“ Because it strikes me such a question would imply a 
doubt of our civilization.” 

“There are frequently distinctions made, when the differ- 
ences are not obvious,” observed Eve. “ Even London 
and Paris are not above the imputation of this folly. Sir 
George Templemore, if I understand him, wishes to know 
if we estimate gentility by streets, and quality by squares.” 

“ Not exactly that either, Mi§s Effingham ; but, whether 
among those who may very well pass for gentlemen and 
ladies, you enter into the minute distinctions that are else- 
where found. Whether you have your exclusives and your 
elegants and elegantes ; or whether you deem all within the 
pale as on an equality ? ” 

“ Les fenunes Americaines sont bien jolies ! ” exclaimed Ma- 
demoiselle Viefville. . 

“It is quite impossible that coteries should not form in a 
town of three hundred thousand souls.” 

“ I do not mean exactly that. Is there no distinction 
between coteries ? Is not one placed by opinion/by a silent 
consent, if not by positive ordinances, above another?” 

“ Certainly, that to which Sir George Templemore al- 
ludes is to be found,” said Grace, who gained courage to 
speak, as she found the subject getting to be more clearly 
within her comprehension. “All the old families, for in- 
stance, keep more together than the others, though it is 
the subject of regret that they are not more particular 
than they are.” 

“ Old families ! ” exclaimed Sir George Templemore, with 
quite as much stress as a well-bred man could very well lay 
on the words in such circumstances. 


HOME AS FOUND. 


3 7 


“Old families,” repeated Eve, with all that emphasis 
which the baronet himself had hesitated about giving. 
“ As old at least as two centuries can make them, and this, 
too, with origins beyond that period, like those of the 
rest of the world. Indeed, the American has a better gen- 
tility than common, as, besides his own, he may take root 
in that of Europe.” 

“ Do not misconceive me, Miss Effingham. I am fully 
aware that the people of this country are exactly like the 
people of all other civilized countries in this respect ; but 
my surprise is that, in a republic, you should have such a 
term even as that of ‘old families. ’ ” 

“The surprise has arisen, I must be permitted to say, 
from not having sufficiently reflected on the real state of 
the country. There are two great causes of distinction 
everywhere, wealth and merit. Now if a race of Ameri- 
cans continue conspicuous in their own society through 
either or both of these causes for a succession of genera- 
tions, why have they not the same claim to be considered 
members of .old families, as Europeans under the same 
circumstances ? A republic history is as much history as 
a monarchical history ; and a historical name in one, is 
quite as much entitled to consideration as a historical 
name in another. Nay, you admit this in your European 
republics, while you wish to deny it in ours.” 

“ I must insist on having proofs ; if we permit these 
charges to be brought against us without evidence, Made- 
moiselle Viefville, we shall finally be defeated through 
our own neglect.” 

“ C'est une belle illustration , celle de l' antiquit e” observed 
the governess, in a matter-of-course tone. 

“ If you insist on proof, what answer can you urge to 
the Capponi ? ‘ Sonnez vos trompettes , et je vais faire son tier 

mes cloches ,’ — or to the Von Erlachs, a family that has 
headed so many resistances to oppression and invasion, 
five centuries ? ” 

“All this is very true,” returned Sir George, “and yet I 
confess it is not the way in which it is usual with us to 
consider American society.” 

“A descent from Washington, with a character and a 
social position to correspond, would not be absolutely 
vulgar, notwithstanding ! ” 


38 


HOME AS FOUND . 


“Nay, if you press me so hard, I must appeal to Miss 
Van Cortlandt for succor.” 

“ On this point you will find no support in that quarter ; 
Miss Van Cortlandt has an historical name herself, and 
will not forego an honest pride, in order to relieve one of 
the hostile powers from a dilemma.” 

“While I admit that time and merit must, in a certain 
sense, place families in America in the same situation 
with families in Europe, I cannot see that it is in con- 
formity with your institutions to lay the same stress on 
the circumstance.” 

“ In that we are perfectly of a mind, as I think the 
American has much the best reason to be proud of his 
family,” said Eve, quietly. 

“You delight in paradoxes, apparently, this evening, 
Miss Effingham, for I now feel very certain you can hardly 
make out a plausible defence of this new position.” 

“ If I had my old ally, Mr. Powis, here,” said Eve, 
touching the fender unconsciously with her little foot, and 
perceptibly losing the animation and pleasantry of her 
voice, in tones that were gentler, if not melancholy, “ I 
should ask him to explain this matter to you, for he was 
singularly ready in such replies. As he is absent, how- 
ever, I will attempt the duty myself. In Europe, office, 
power, and consequently consideration, are all hereditary ; 
whereas, in this country, they are not, but depend on se- 
lection. Now, surely, one has more reason to be proud 
of ancestors who have been chosen to fill responsible sta- 
tions, than of ancestors who have filled them through the 
accidents, heureux ou malheureiix , of birth. The only 
difference between England and America, as respects 
families, is that you add positive rank. to that to which we 
only give consideration. Sentiment is at the bottom of 
our nobility, and the great seal at the bottom of yours. 
And now, having established the fact that there are fami- 
lies in America, let us return whence we started, and in- 
quire how far they have an influence in every-day so- 
ciety.” 

“To ascertain which, we must apply to Miss Van Cort- 
landt.” 

“ Much less than they ought, if my opinion is to be 
taken,” said Grace, laughing, “ for the great inroad of 


HOME AS FOUND . 


39 


strangers has completely deranged all the suitablenesses 
in that respect.” 

“ And yet, I dare say these very strangers do good,” re- 
joined Eve. “ Many of them must have been respectable 
in their native places, and ought to be an acquisition to a 
society that in its nature must be, Grace, tant soit peu , 
provincial.” 

“Oh!” cried Grace, “I can tolerate anything but the 
Hajjis ! ” 

“The what?” asked Sir George, eagerly — “will you 
suffer me to ask an explanation, Miss Van Cortlandt?” 

“The Hajjis,” repeated Grace, laughing, though she 
blushed to the eyes. 

The baronet looked from one cousin to the other, and 
then turned an inquiring glance on Mademoiselle Viefville. 
The latter gave a slight shrug, and seemed to ask an ex- 
planation of the young lady’s meaning herself. 

“A Hajji is one of a class, Sir George Templemore,” 
Eve at length said, “to which you and I have both the 
honor of belonging.” 

“No, not Sir George Templemore,” interrupted Grace, 
with a precipitation that she instantly regretted; “he is 
not an American.” 

“Then I alone, of all present, have that honor. It 
means the pilgrimage to Paris instead of Mecca ; and the 
pilgrim must be an American instead of a Mahom- 
medan.” 

“ Nay, Eve, you are not a Hajji, neither.” 

“ Then there is some qualification with which I am not 
yet acquainted. Will you relieve our doubts, Grace, and 
let us know the precise character of the animal ? ” 

“You stayed too long to be a Hajji — one must get ino- 
culated merely, not take the disease and become cured, to 
be a true Hajji.” 

“ I thank you, Miss Van Cortlandt, for this descrip- 
tion,” returned Eve, in her quiet way. “ I hope, as I have 
gone through the malady, it has not left me pitted.” 

“I should like to see one of these Hajjis,” cried Sir 
George. “ Are they of both sexes ? ” 

Grace laughed, and nodded her head. 

“ Will you point it out to me, should we be so fortunate 
as to encounter one this evening ? ” 


40 


HOME AS FOUND. 


Again Grace laughed, and nodded her head. 

“I have been thinking, Grace,” said Eve, after a short 
pause, “ that we may give Sir George Templemore a better 
idea of the sets about which he is so curious, by doing what 
is no more than a duty of our own, and by letting him 
profit by the opportunity. Mrs. Hawker receives this 
evening without ceremony ; we have not yet sent our an- 
swer to Mrs. Jarvis, and might very well look in upon her 
for half an hour, after which we shall be in very good sea- 
son for Mrs. Houston’s ball.” 

“ Surely, Eve, you would not wish to take Sir George 
Templemore to such a house as that of Mrs. Jarvis ?” 

“ I do not wish to take Sir George Templemore any- 
where, for your Hajjis have opinions of their own on such 
subjects. But as Cousin Jack will accompany us, he may 
very well confer that important favor. I dare say Mrs. 
Jarvis will not look upon it as too great a liberty.” 

“ I will answer for it, that nothing Mr. John Effingham 
can do will be thought mal-a-propos by Mrs. Jared Jarvis. 
His position in society is too well established, and hers is 
too equivocal to leave any doubt on that head.” 

“ This, you perceive, settles the point of cbteries ,” said 
Eve to the baronet. “Volumes might be written to es- 
tablish principles ; but when one can do anything he or 
she pleases, anywhere that he or she likes, it is pretty safe 
to say that he or she is privileged.” 

“ All very true as to the fact, Miss Effingham ; but I 
should like exceedingly to know the reason.” 

“ Half the time such things are decided without a reason 
at all. You are a little exacting in requiring a reason in 
New York for that which is done in London without even 
the pretence of such a thing. It is sufficient that Mrs. 
Jarvis will be delighted to see you without an invitation, 
and that Mrs. Houston would at least think it odd were 
you to take the same liberty with her.” 

“ It follows,” said Sir George, smiling, “that Mrs. Jarvis 
is much the more hospitable person of the two.” 

“ But, Eve, what is to be done with Captain Truck and 
Mr. Bragg ? ” asked Grace. “We cannot take them to 
Mrs. Hawker’s ? ” 

“ Aristabulus would, indeed, be a little out of place in 
such a house, but as for our excellent, brave, straight-for- 


HOME AS FOUND. 




ward old captain, he is worthy to go anywhere. I shall be 
delighted to present him to Mrs. Hawker myself.” 

After a little consultation between the ladies, it was 
settled that nothing should be said of the two first visits to 
Mr. Bragg, but that Mr. Effingham should be requested 
to bring him to the ball at the proper hour, and that the 
rest of the party should go quietly off to the other places 
without mentioning their projects. As soon as this was 
arranged, the ladies retired to dress, Sir George Temple- 
more passing into the library to amuse himself with a 
book the while ; where, however, he was soon joined by 
John Effingham. Here the former revived the conversa- 
tion on distinctions in society, with the confusion of 
thought that usually marks a European’s notions of such 
matters. 


CHAPTER IV. 

“ Ready.” 

“And I.” 

“And I.” 

“ Where shall we go ? ” 

Midsummer-Night’s Dream. 

Grace Van Cortlandt was the first to make her appear- 
ance after the retreat from the drawing-room. It has ofcen 
been said that pretty as the American females incontesta- 
bly are, as a whole they appear better in demi-toilette , than 
when attired for a ball. With w T hat would be termed high 
dress in other parts of the world, they are little acquainted ; 
but reversing the rule of Europe, where the married be- 
stow the most care on their personal appearance, and the 
single are taught to observe a rigid simplicity, Grace now 
seemed sufficiently ornamented in the eyes of the fastidious 
baronet, while at the same time he thought her less obnox- 
ious to the criticisms just mentioned, than most of her 
young countrywomen in general. 

An embonpoint that was just sufficient to distinguish her 
from most of her companions, a fine color, brilliant eyes, 
a sweet smile, rich hair, and such feet and hands as Sir 
George Templemore had somehow — he scarcely knew how 
himself — fancied could only belong to the daughters of 


42 


HOME AS FOUND. 


peers and princes, rendered Grace so strikingly attractive 
this evening, that the young baronet began to think her 
even handsomer than her cousin. There was also a charm 
in the unsophisticated simplicity of Grace, that was par- 
ticularly alluring to a man educated amidst the coldness 
and mannerism of the higher classes of England. In Grace, 
too, this simplicity was chastened by perfect decorum and 
retenue of deportment ; the exuberance of the new school 
of manners not having helped to impair the dignity of her 
character, or to weaken the charm of diffidence. She was 
less finished in her manners than Eve, certainly ; a circum- 
stance, perhaps, that induced Sir George Templemore to 
fancy her a shade more simple, but she was never unfemi- 
nine or unladylike ; and the term vulgar, in spite of all the 
capricious and arbitrary rules of fashion, under no circum- 
stance could ever be applied to Grace Van Cortlandt. In 
this respect nature seemed to have aided her ; for had not 
her associations raised her above such an imputation, no one 
could believe that she would be obnoxious to the charge, 
had her lot in life been cast even many degrees lower that 
it actually was. 

It is well known that after a sufficient similarity has been 
created by education to prevent any violent shocks to our 
habits or principles, we most affect those whose characters 
and dispositions the least resemble our own. This tvas 
probably one of the reasons why Sir George Templemore, 
who for some time had been well assured of the hopeless- 
ness of his suit with Eve, began to regard her scarcely less 
lovely cousin with an interest of a novel and lively nature. 
Quick-sighted and deeply interested in Grace’s happiness, 
Miss Effingham had already detected this change in the 
young baronet’s inclinations, and though sincerely re- 
joiced on her own account, she did not observe it without 
concern ; for she understood better than most of her 
country-women, the great hazards of destroying her peace 
of mind, that are incurred by transplanting an American 
woman into the more artificial circles of the old world. 

“ I shall rely on your kind offices in particular, Miss Van 
Cortlandt, to reconcile Mrs. Jarvis and Mrs. Hawker to 
the liberty I am about to take,” cried Sir George, as Grace 
burst upon them in the library in a blaze of beauty that, 
in her case, was aided by her attire ; “and cold-hearted and 


HOME AS FOUND. 


43 


unchristian-like women they must be, indeed, to resist such 
a mediator ! ” 

Grace was unaccustomed to adulation of this sort ; for 
though the baronet spoke gaily, and like one half trifling, 
his look of admiration was too honest to escape the intui- 
tive perception of woman. She blushed deeply, and then 
recovering herself instantly, said with a naivete that had a 
thousand charms with her listener : 

“ I do not see why Miss Effingham and myself should 
hesitate about introducing you at either place. Mrs. 
Hawker is a relative and an intimate — an intimate of mine, 
at least — and as for poor Mrs. Jarvis, she is the daughter 
of an old neighbor, and will be too glad to see us to raise 
objections. I fancy any one of a certain ” Grace hesi- 

tated and laughed. 

“Any one of a certain -?” said Sir George inquir- 

ingly. 

“ Any one from this house,” resumed the young lady, 
correcting the intended expression, “will be welcome in 
Spring Street.” 

“ Pure native aristocracy ! ” exclaimed the baronet, with 
an air of affected triumph. “ This, you see, Mr. John 
Effingham, is in aid of my argument.” 

“ I am quite of your opinion,” returned the gentleman 
addressed ; “ as much native aristocracy as you please, but 
no hereditary.” 

The entrance of Eve and Mademoiselle Viefville inter- 
rupted this pleasantry, and the carriages being just then 
announced, John Effingham went in quest of Captain 
Truck, who was in the drawing-room with Mr. Effingham 
and Aristabulus. 

“ I have left Ned to discuss trespass suits and leases with 
his land-agent,” said John Effingham, as he followed Eve 
to the street-door. “ By ten o’clock they will have taxed a 
pretty bill of costs between them ! ” 

Mademoiselle Viefville followed John Effingham ; Grace 
came next, and Sir George Templemore and the Captain 
brought up the rear. Grace wondered the young baronet 
did not offer her his arm, for she had been accustomed to 
receive this attention from the other sex in a hundred 
situations in which it was rather an incumbrance than a 
service ; while, on the other hand, Sir George himself 


44 


HOME AS FOUND. 


would have hesitated about offering such assistance, as an 
act of uncalled-for familiarity. 

Miss Van Cortlandt, being much in society, kept a 
chariot for her own use, and the three ladies took their 
seats in it, while the gentlemen took possession of Mr. Ef- 
fingham’s coach. The order was given to drive to Spring 
Street, and the whole party proceeded. 

The acquaintance between the Effinghams and Mr. Jar- 
vis had arisen from the fact of their having been near, and, 
in a certain sense, sociable neighbors in the country. Their 
town associations, however, were as distinct as if they dwelt 
in different hemispheres, with the exception of an occa- 
sional morning call, and now and then a family dinner 
given by Mr. Effingham. Such had been the nature of 
the intercourse previously to the family of the latter’s 
having gone abroad, and there were symptoms of its being 
renewed on the same quiet and friendly footing as for- 
merly. But no two beings could be less alike, in certain 
essentials, than Mr. Jarvis and his wife. The former was 
a plain, painstaking, sensible man of business, while the 
latter had an itching desire to figure in the world of fash- 
ion. The first was perfectly aware that Mr. Effingham, in 
education, habits, associations, and manners, was, at least, 
of a class entirely distinct from his own ; and without 
troubling himself to analyze causes, and without a feeling 
of envy or unkindness of any sort, while totally exempt 
from any undue deference or unmanly cringing, he quietly 
submitted to let things take their course. His wife ex- 
pressed her surprise that any one in New York should 
presume to be better than themselves ; and the remark 
gave rise to the following short conversation on the very 
morning of the day she gave the party to which we are 
now conducting the reader. 

“ How do you know, my dear, that any one does think 
himself our better ? ” demanded the husband. 

“ Why do they not all visit us then ?” 

“ Why do you not visit everybody yourself ? A pretty 
household we should have, if you did nothing but visit 
every one who lives even in this street ! ” 

“You surely would not have me visiting the grocers’ 
wives at the corners, and all the other rubbish of the neigh- 
borhood. What I mean is, that all the people of a certain 


HOME AS FOUND. 


45 


sort ought to visit all the other people of a certain sort, in 
the same town.” 

“ You surely will make an exception, at least on account 
of numbers. I saw number three thousand six hundred 
and fifty this very day on a cart, and if the wives of all 
these carmen should visit one another, each would have to 
make ten visits daily in order to get through with the list 
in a twelvemonth.” 

“ I have always bad luck in making you comprehend 
these things, Mr. Jarvis.” 

“ I am afraid, my dear, it is because you do not very 
clearly comprehend them yourself. You first say that 
everybody ought to visit everybody, and then you insist 
on it you will visit none but those you think good enough 
to be visited by Mrs. Jared Jarvis.” 

“What I mean is, that no one in New York has a right 
to think himself, or herself, better than ourselves.” 

“ Better ? — In what sense better?” 

“ In such a sense as to induce them to think themselves 
too good to visit us.” 

“That maybe your opinion, my dear, but others may 
judge differently. You clearly think yourself too good to 
visit Mrs. Onion, the grocer’s wife, who is a capital woman 
in her way ; and how do we know that certain people may 
not fancy we are not quite refined enough for them ? Re- 
finement is a positive thing, Mrs. Jarvis, and one that has 
much more influence on the pleasures of association than 
money. We may want a hundred little perfections that 
escape our ignorance, and which those who are trained to 
such matters deem essentials.” 

“I never met with a man of so little social spirit, Mr. 
Jarvis! Really, you are quite unsuited to be a citizen of 
a republican country.” 

“ Republican! — I do not really see what republican has 
to do with the question. In the first place, it is a droll 
word for you to use, in this sense at least ; for, taking your 
own meaning of the term, you are as anti-republican as 
any woman I know. But a republic does not necessarily 
infer equality of condition, or even equality of rights — it 
meaning merely the substitution of the right of the com- 
monwealth for the right of a prince. Had you said de- 
mocracy, there would have been some plausibility in using 


46 


HOME AS FO U HD. 


the word, though even then its application would have 
been illogical. If I am a freeman and a democrat, I hope 
I have the justice to allow others to be just as free and 
democratic as I am myself.” 

“ And who wishes the contrary ? All I ask is a claim to 
be considered a fit associate for anybody in this country — 
in these United States of America.” 

“ 1 would quit these United States of America next 
week, if I thought there existed any necessity for such an 
intolerable state of things.” 

“Mr. Jarvis! — and you, too, one of the Committee of 
Tammany Hall ! ” 

“Yes, Mrs. Jarvis, and I one of the Committee of Tam- 
many Hall! What! Do you think I want the three 
thousand six hundred and fifty carmen running in and out 
of my house, with their tobacco saliva and pipes, all day 
long ? ” 

“ Who is thinking of your carmen and grocers ! I speak 
now only of genteel people.” 

“ In other words, my dear, you are thinking only of 
those whom you fancy to have the advantage of you, and 
keep those who think of you in the same way, quite out 
of sight. This is not my democracy and freedom. I be- 
lieve that it requires two people to make a bargain ; and 

although I may consent to dine with A , if A will 

not consent to dine with me, there is an end of the matter.” 

“Now, you have come to a case in point. You often 
dined with Mr. Effingham before he went abroad, and yet 
you would never allow me to ask Mr. Effingham to dine 
with us. That is what I call meanness.” 

“ It might be so, indeed, if it were done to save my 
money. I dined with Mr. Effingham because I like him ; 
because he was an old neighbor ; because he asked me, 
and because I found a pleasure in the quiet elegance 
of his table and society ; and I did not ask him to dine 
with me, because I was satisfied he would be better 
pleased with such a tacit acknowledgment of his su- 
periority in this respect, than by any bustling and un- 
graceful efforts to pay him in kind. Edward Effingham 
has dinners enough without keeping a debtor and credit 
account with his guests, which is rather too New Yorkish, 
even for me.” 


HOME AS FOUND. 


47 


“Bustling and ungraceful!” repeated Mrs. Jarvis, bit- 
terly ; “ I do not know that you are at all more bustling 
and ungraceful than Mr. Effingham himself.” 

“No, my dear, I am a quiet, unpretending man, like the 
great majority of my countrymen, thank God.” 

“ Then why talk of these sorts of differences in a country 
in which the law establishes none ? ” 

“ For precisely the reason that I talk of the river at the 
foot of this street, or because there is a river. A thing 
may exist without there being a law T for it. There is no 
law for building this house, and yet it is built. There is 
no law for making Dr. Verse a better preacher than Dr. 
Prolix, and yet he is a much better preacher ; neither is 
there any law for making Mr. Effingham a more finished 
gentleman than I happen to be, and yet I am not fool 
enough to deny the fact. In the way of making out a bill 
of parcels, I will not turn my back to him, I can promise 
you.” 

“ All this strikes me as being very spiritless, and as par- 
ticularly anti-republican,” said Mrs. Jarvis, rising to quit 
the room ; “ and if the Effinghams do not come this even- 
ing, I shall not enter their house this winter. I am sure 
they have no right to pretend to be our betters, and I feel 
no disposition to admit the impudent claim.” 

“Before you go, Jane, let me say a parting word,” re- 
joined the husband, looking for his hat, “which is just 
this. If you wish the world to believe you the equal of 
any one, no matter whom, do not be always talking about 
it, lest they see you distrust the fact yourself. A positive 
thing will surely be seen, and they who have the highest 
claims are the least disposed to be always pressing them 
on the attention of the world. An outrage may certainly 
be done those social rights which have been established 
by common consent, and then it may be proper to resent 
it ; but beware betraying a consciousness of your own in- 
feriority, by letting every one see you are jealous of your 
station. Now, kiss me ; here is the money to pay for your 
finery this evening, and let me see you as happy to receive 
Mrs. Jewett from Albion Place, as you would be to receive 
Mrs. Hawker herself.” 

“ Mrs. Hawker ! ” cried the wife, with a toss of her 
head, “I would not cross the street to invite Mrs. Hawker, 


48 


HOME AS FOUND. 


and all her clan,” which was very true, as Mrs. Jarvis was 
thoroughly convinced the trouble would be unavailing, 
the lady in question being as near the head of fashion in 
New York as it was possible to be in a town that, in a 
moral sense resembles an encampment, quite as much as 
it resembles a permanent and a long-existing capital. 

Notwithstanding a great deal of management on the 
part of Mrs. Jarvis to get showy personages to attend her 
entertainment, the simple elegance of the two carriages 
that bore the Effingham party, threw all the other equip- 
ages into the shade. The arrival, indeed, was deemed a 
matter of so much moment, that intelligence was conveyed 
to the lady, who was still at her post in the inner drawing- 
room, of the arrival of a party altogether superior to any- 
thing that had yet appeared in her rooms. It is true, this 
was not expressed in words, but it was made sufficiently 
obvious by the breathless haste and the air of importance 
of Mrs. Jarvis’s sister, who had received the news from a 
servant, and who communicated it propria persona to the 
mistress of the house. 

The simple, useful, graceful, almost indispensable usage 
of announcing at the door, indispensable to those who re- 
ceive much, and where there is the risk of meeting people 
known to us by name and not in person, is but little prac- 
tised in America. Mrs. Jarvis would have shrunk from 
such an innovation, had she known that elsewhere the 
custom prevailed, but she was in happy ignorance on this 
point, as on many others that were more essential to the 
much-coveted social eclat at which she aimed. When Ma- 
demoiselle Viefville appeared, therefore, walking unsup- 
ported, as if she were out of leading-strings, followed by 
Eve and Grace, and the gentlemen of their party, she at 
first supposed there was some mistake, and that her vis- 
itors had got into the wrong house, there being an oppo- 
sition party in the neighborhood. 

“What brazen people !” whispered Mrs. Abijah Gross, 
who having removed from an interior New England vil- 
lage, fully two years previously, fancied herself an fait of 
all the niceties of breeding and social tact. “ There are 
positively two young ladies actually walking about with- 
out gentlemen ! ” 

But it was not in the power of Mrs. Abijah Gross, with 


HOME AS FOUND. 


49 


her audible whisper and obvious sneer and laugh, to put 
down two such lovely creatures as Eve and her cousin. 
The simple elegance of their attire, the indescribable air 
of polish, particularly in the former, and the surpassing 
beauty and modesty of mien of both, effectually silenced 
criticism, after this solitary outbreaking of vulgarity. Mrs. 
Jarvis recognized Eve and John Effingham, and her hur- 
ried compliments and obvious delight proclaimed to all 
near her the importance she attached to their visit. Ma- 
demoiselle Viefville she had not recollected in her present 
dress, and even she was covered with expressions of de- 
light and satisfaction. 

“I wish particularly to present to you a friend that we 
all prize exceedingly,” said Eve, as soon as there was an 
opportunity of speaking. “This is Captain Truck, the 
gentleman who commands the Montauk, the ship of which 
you have heard so much. Ah ! Mr. Jarvis,” offering a 
hand to him with sincere cordiality, for Eve had known 
him from childhood, and always sincerely respected him — 
“you will receive my friend with a cordial welcome, I am 
certain.” 

She then explained to Mr. Jarvis who the honest cap- 
tain was, when the former, first paying the proper respect 
to his other guests, led the old sailor aside, and began an 
earnest conversation on the subject of the recent passage. 

John Effingham presented the baronet, whom Mrs. Jar- 
vis out of pure ignorance of his rank in his own country, 
received with perfect propriety and self-respect. 

“We have very few people of note in town at present, I 
believe,” said Mrs. Jarvis to John Effingham. “A great 
traveller, a most interesting man, is the only person of 
that sort I could obtain for this evening, and I shall have 
great pleasure in introducing you. He is there in that 
crowd, for he is in the greatest possible demand ; he has 
seen so much, — Mrs. Snow, with your permission — really 
the ladies are thronging about him as if he were a Paw- 
nee, — have the goodness to step a little this way, Mr. Ef- 
fingham — Miss Effingham — Mrs. Snow, just touch his arm 
and let him know I wish to introduce a couple of friends. 
— Mr. Dodge, Mr. John Effingham, Miss Effingham, Miss 
Van Cortlandt. I hope you may succeed in getting him 
a little to yourselves, ladies, for he can tell you all about 


5o 


HOME A S FOE HD. 


Europe — saw the king of France riding out to Nully, and 
has a prodigious knowledge of things on the other side of 
the water.” 

It required a good deal of Eve’s habitual self-command 
to prevent a smile, but she had the tact and discretion to 
receive Steadfast as an utter stranger. John Effingham 
bowed as haughtily as man can bow, and then it was whis- 
pered that he and Mr. Dodge were rival travellers. The 
distance of the former, coupled w T ith an expression of coun- 
tenance that did not invite familiarity, drove nearly all the 
company over to the side of Steadfast, who, it was soon 
settled, had seen much the most of the world, understood 
society the best, and had, moreover, travelled as far as Tim- 
buctoo in Africa. The clientele of Mr. Dodge increased 
rapidly, as these reports spread in the rooms, and those 
who had not read the “ delightful letters published in the 
Active Inquirer ,” furiously envied those who had enjoyed 
that high advantage. 

“ It is Mr. Dodge, the great traveller,” said one young 
lady, who had extricated herself from the crowd around 
the “ lion,” and taken a station near Eve and Grace, and 
who, moreover, was a “ blue ” in her own set ; “ his beauti- 
ful and accurate descriptions have attracted great attention 
in England, and it is said they have actually been repub- 
lished ! ” 

“ Have you read them, Miss Brackett ?” 

“Not the letters themselves, absolutely ; but all the re- 
marks on them in the last week’s Hebdomad. Most de- 
lightful letters, judging from those remarks ; full of nature 
and point, and singularly accurate in all their facts. In 
this respect they are invaluable, travellers do fall into such 
extraordinary errors ! ” 

“I hope, ma’am,” said John Effingham, gravely, “that 
the gentleman has avoided the capital mistake of comment- 
ing on things that actually exist. Comments on its facts 
are generally esteemed by the people of a country imper- 
tinent and unjust ; and your true way to succeed is to 
treat as freely as possible its imaginary peculiarities.” 

Miss Brackett had nothing to answer to this observation, 
the Hebdomad having, among its other profundities, never 
seen proper to touch on the subject. She went on prais- 
ing the “ Letters,” however, not one of which had she read, 


HOME AS FOUND. 


5 * 


or would she read ; for this young lady had contrived to 
gain a high reputation in her own coterie for taste and 
knowledge in books, by merely skimming the strictures of 
those who do not even skim the works they pretend to an- 
alyze. 

Eve had never before been in so close contact with so 
much flippant ignorance, and she could not but wonder at 
seeing a man like her kinsman overlooked, in order that a 
man like Mr. Dodge should be preferred. All this gave 
John Effingham himself no concern, but retiring a little 
from the crowd, he entered into a short conversation with 
the young baronet. 

“ I should like to know your real opinions of this set,” 
he said ; “ not that I plead guilty to the childish sensibility 
that is so common in all provincial circles to the judgments 
of strangers, but with a view to aid you in forming a just 
estimate of the real state of the country.” 

“ As I know the precise connection between you and our 
host, there can be no objection to giving a perfectly frank 
reply The women strike me as being singularly delicate 
and pretty ; well dressed, too, I might add ; but while there 
is a great air of decency, there is very little high finish ; 
and what strikes me as being quite odd, under such circum- 
stances, scarcely any downright vulgarity or coarseness.” 

“A Daniel come to judgment ! One who had passed a 
life here would not have come so near the truth, simply 
because he would not have observed peculiarities that re- 
quire the means of comparison to be detected. You are a 
little too indulgent in saying there is no downright vulgar- 
ity ; for some there is ; though surprisingly little for the 
circumstances. But of the coarseness that would be so 
prominent elsewhere, there is hardly any. True, so great 
is the equality in all things in this country, so direct the 
tendency to this respectable mediocrity, that what you now 
see here to-night may be seen in almost every village in 
the land, with a few immaterial exceptions in the way of 
furniture and other city appliances, and not much even in 
these.” 

“ Certainly, as a mediocrity this is respectable, though a 
fastidious taste might see a multitude of faults.” 

“ I should not say that the taste would be merely fasti- 
dious, for much is wanting that would add to the grace 


52 


HOME AS FOUND . 


and beauty of society, while much that is wanting would be 
missed only by the over-sophisticated. Those young men 
who are sniggering over some bad joke in the corner for 
instance, are positively vulgar, as is that young lady who 
is indulging in practical coquetry ; but, on the whole, there 
is little of this ; and even our hostess, a silly woman, de- 
voured with the desire of being what neither her social po- 
sition, education, habits, nor notions fit her to be, is less 
obtrusive, bustling, and offensive, than a similar person 
elsewhere.” 

“I am quite of your way of thinking, and intended to 
ask you to account for it.” 

“The Americans are an imitative people, of necessity, 
and they are apt at this part of imitation in particular. 
Then they are less artificial in all their practices than older 
and more sophisticated nations ; and this company has got 
that essential part of good breeding, simplicity, as it were 
perforce. A step higher in the social scale you will see 
less of it ; for greater daring and bad models lead to blun- 
ders in matters that require to be exceedingly well done, if 
done at all. The faults here would be more apparent by 
an approach near enough to get into the tone of mind, the 
forms of speech, and the attempts at wit.” 

“ Which I think we shall escape to-night, as I see the la- 
dies are already making their apologies and taking leave. 
We must defer this investigation to another time.” 

“ It may be indefinitely postponed, as it would scarcely 
reward the trouble of an inquiry.” 

The gentlemen now approached Mrs. Jarvis, paid their 
parting compliments, hunted up Captain Truck, whom they 
tore by violence from the good-natured hospitality of the 
master of the house, and then saw the ladies into their 
carriage. As they drove off, the worthy mariner protested 
that Mr. Jarvis vvas one of the honestest men he had ever 
met, and announced that he intended giving him a dinner 
on board the Montauk the very next day. 

The dwelling of Mrs. Hawker was in Hudson Square, or 
in a portion of the city that the lovers of the grandiose are 
endeavoring to call St. John’s Park ; for it is rather an 
amusing peculiarity among a certain portion of the emi- 
grants who have flocked into the Middle States within the 
last thirty years, that they are not satisfied with permitting 


HOME AS FOUND. 


53 


any family or thing to possess the name it originally en- 
joyed, if there exists the least opportunity to change it. 
There was but a carriage or two before the door, though 
the strong lights in the house showed that the company 
had collected. 

“ Mrs. Hawker is the widow and the daughter of men of 
long established New York families ; she is childless, afflu- 
ent, and universally respected where known for her breed- 
ing, benevolence, good sense, and heart,” said John Effing- 
ham, while the party was driving from one house to the 
other. “ Were you to go into most of the sets of this town 
and mention Mrs. Hawker’s name, not one person in ten 
would know that there is such a being in their vicinity ; 
the pele inele of a migratory population keeping persons of 
her character and condition of life quite out of view. The 
very persons who will prattle by the hour of the establish- 
ments of Mrs. Peleg Pond, and Mrs. Jonah Twist, and Mrs. 
Abiram Wattles, people who first appeared on this island 
five or six years since, and who, having accumulated what to 
them are relatively large fortunes, have launched out into 
vulgar and uninstructed finery, would look with surprise at 
hearing Mrs. Hawker mentioned as one having any claims 
to social distinction. Her historical names are overshad- 
owed in their minds by the parochial glories of certain local 
prodigies in the townships whence they emigrated ; her 
manners would puzzle the comprehension of people whose 
imitation has not gone beyond the surface ; and her pol- 
ished and simple mind would find little sympathy among a 
class who seldom rise above a commonplace sentiment with- 
out getting upon stilts.” 

“Mrs. Hawker, then, is a lady,” observed Sir George 
Templemore. 

“ Mrs. Hawker is a lady in every sense of the word ; by 
position, education, manners, association, mind, fortune, 
and birth. I do not know that we ever had more of her 
class than exist to-day, but certainly we once had them 
more prominent in society.” 

“I suppose, sir,” said Captain Truck, “that this Mrs. 
Hawker is of what is called the old school ? ” 

“ Of a very ancient school, and one that is likely to con- 
tinue, though it may not be generally attended.” 

“ I am afraid, Mr. John Effingham, that I shall be like a 


54 


HOME AS FOUND. 


fish out of water in such a house. I can get along very 
well with your Mrs. Jarvis, and with the dear young lady 
in the other carriage ; but the sort of a woman you have 
described will be apt to jam a plain mariner like myself. 
What in nature should I do, now, if she should ask me to 
dance a minuet ? ” 

“ Dance it agreeably to the laws of nature,” returned 
John Effingham, as the carriage stopped. 

A respectable, quiet, and an aged black admitted the 
party, though even he did not announce the visitors, while 
he held the door of the drawing-room open for them with 
respectful attention. Mrs. Hawker arose and advanced to 
meet Eve and her companions, and though she kissed the 
cousins affectionately, her reception of Mademoiselle Vief- 
ville was so simply polite as to convince the latter she was 
valued on account of her services. John Effingham, who 
was ten or fifteen years the junior of the old lady, gal- 
lantly kissed her hand, when he presented his two male 
companions. After paying proper attention to the great- 
est stranger, Mrs. Hawker turned to Captain Truck and 
said — 

“ This, then, is the gentleman to whose skill and courage 
you all owe so much —we all owe so much, I might better 
have said — the commander of the Montauk ? ” 

“ I have the honor of commanding that vessel, ma’am,” 
returned Captain Truck, who was singularly awed by the 
dignified simplicity of his hostess, although her quiet, na- 
tural, and yet finished manner, which extended even to the 
intonation of the voice and the smallest movement, were 
as unlike what he had expected as possible, “ ahd with such 
passengers as she had last voyage, I can only say it is a pity 
that she is not better off for one to take care of her.” 

“ Your passengers give a different account of the matter ; 
but in order that I may judge impartially, do me the favor 
to take this chair, and let me learn a few of the particulars 
from yourself.” 

Observing that Sir George Templemore had followed 
Eve to the other side of the room, Mrs. Hawker now re- 
sumed her seat, and without neglecting any to attend to 
one in particular, or attending to one in any way to make 
him feel oppressed, she contrived in a few minutes to make 
the captain forget all about the minuet, and to feel much 


HOME AS FOUND, 


55 


more at his ease than would have been the case with Mrs. 
Jarvis in a month’s intercourse. 

In the meantime Eve had crossed the room to join a 
lady whose smile invited her to her side. This was a 
young, slightly framed female, of a pleasing countenance, 
but who would not have been particularly distinguished 
in such a place for personal charms. Still her smile was 
sweet, her eyes were soft, and the expression of her face was 
what might almost be called illuminated. As Sir George 
Templemore followed her, Eve mentioned his name to her 
acquaintance, whom she addressed as Mrs. Bloomfield. 

“ You are bent on perpetrating further gayety to-night,” 
said the latter, glancing at the ball dresses of the two cou- 
sins. “Are you in the colors of the Houston faction, or 
in those of the Peabody ? ” 

“Not in pea-green, certainly,” returned Eve, laughing, 
“ as you may see ; but in simple white.” 

“ You intend then to be ‘ led a measure * at Mrs. Hous- 
ton’s. It were more suitable than among the other fac- 
tion.” 

“ Is fashion then faction in New York ? ” inquired Sir 
George. 

“ Fractions would be a better word, perhaps; but we 
have parties in almost everything in America — in politics, 
religion, temperance, speculations, and taste. Why not 
in fashion ? ” 

“ I fear we are not quite independent enough to form 
parties on such a subject,” said Eve. 

“ Perfectly well said, Miss Effingham. One must think 
a little originally, let it be ever so falsely, in order to get 
up a fashion. I fear we shall have to admit our insignifi- 
cance on this point. You are a late arrival, Sir George 
Templemore ? ” 

“ As lately as the commencement of this month. I had 
the honor of being a fellow-passenger with Mr. Effingham 
and his family.” 

“ In which voyage you suffered shipwreck, captivity, and 
famine, if half we hear be true.” 

“ Report has a little magnified our risks. We encoun- 
tered some serious dangers, but nothing amounting to the 
sufferings vou have mentioned.” 

“ Being a married woman, and having reached the crisis 


56 


HOME AS FOE HD. 


in which deception is not practised, I expect to hear truth 
again,” said Mrs. Bloomfield, smiling. “I trust, however,' 
you underwent enough to qualify you all for heroes and 
heroines, and shall content myself with knowing that you 
are here, safe and happy,” if, she added, looking inquiring- 
ly at Eve, “one who has been educated abroad, can be 
happy at home.” 

“ One educated abroad, may be happy at home, though 
possibly not in the modes most practised by the world,” 
said Eve, firmly. 

“ Without an opera, without a court, almost without so- 
ciety ! ” 

“An opera would be desirable, I confess. Of courts I 
know nothing, unmarried females, being ciphers in Eu- 
rope, and I hope better things than to think I shall be 
without society.” 

“ Unmarried females are considered ciphers too, here, 
provided there be enough of them with a good respectable 
digit at their head. I assure you no one quarrels with the 
ciphers under such circumstances. I think, Sir George 
Templemore, a town like this must be something of a par- 
adox to you.” 

“ Might I venture to inquire the reason for this opinion ? ” 

“ Merely because it is neither one thing nor another. 
Not a capital, nor yet merely a provincial place, with 
something more than commerce in its bosom, and yet with 
that something hidden under a bushel. A good deal more 
than Liverpool, and a good deal less than London. Bet- 
ter even than Edinburgh in many respects, and worse than 
Wapping in others.” 

“ You have been abroad, Mrs. Bloomfield ?” 

“ Not a foot out of my own country ; scarcely a foot out 
of my own State. I have been at Lake George, the Falls, 
and the Mountain House, and as one does not travel in a 
balloon, I saw some of the intermediate places. As for all 
else, I am obliged to go by report.” 

“ It is a pity Mrs. Bloomfield was not with us this even- 
ing at Mrs. Jarvis’s,” said Eve, laughing. “ She might 
then have increased her knowledge by listening to a few 
cantos from the epic of Mr. Dodge.” 

“ I have glanced at some of that author’s wisdom,” re- 
turned Mrs. Bloomfield, “but I soon found it was learning 


HOME AS FOUND. 


57 


backward. There is a never-failing rule by which it is 
easy to arrive at a traveller’s worth, in a negative sense at 
least.” 

“ That is a rule which may be worth knowing,” said 
the baronet, “as it would save much useless wear of the 
eyes.” 

“When one betrays a profound ignorance of his own 
country, it is a fair presumption that he cannot be very 
acute in his observation of strangers. Mr. Dodge is one 
of these writers, and a single letter fully satisfied my curi- 
osity. I fear, Miss Effingham, very inferior wares in the 
way of manners have been lately imported in large quan- 
tities into this country, as having the Tower mark on 
them.” 

Eve laughed, but declared that Sir George Temple- 
more was better qualified than herself to answer such a 
question. 

“ We are said to be a people of facts, rather than a people 
of theories,” continued Mrs. Bloomfield, without attending 
to the reference of the young lady, “and any coin that 
offers, passes until another that is better arrives. It is a 
singular but a very general mistake, I believe, of the 
people of this country, in supposing that they can exist 
under the present regime, when others would fail, because 
their opinions keep even pace with, or precede the actual 
condition of society ; whereas those who have thought and 
observed most on such subjects, agree in thinking the ver} r 
reverse of the case.” 

“ This would be a curious condition for a government 
so purely conventional,” observed Sir George with inter- 
est, “and it certainly is entirely opposed to the state of 
things all over Europe.” 

“It is so, and yet there is no great mystery in it after all. 
Accident has liberated us from trammels that still fetter 
you. We are like a vehicle on the top of a hill, which the 
moment it is pushed beyond the point of resistance, rolls 
down of itself, without the aid of horses. One may follow 
with the team and hook on when it gets to the bottom, 
but there is no such thing as keeping company with it 
until it arrives there.” 

“You will allow, then, that there is a bottom ?” 

“There is a bottom to everything — to good and bad ; 


58 


HOME AS FOUND. 


happiness and misery ; hope, fear, faith, and charity ; even 
to a woman’s mind, which I have sometimes fancied the 
most bottomless thing in nature. There may, therefore, 
well be a bottom even to the institutions of America.” 

Sir George listened with the interest with which an 
Englishman of his class always endeavors to catch a con- 
cession that he fancies is about to favor, his own political 
predilections, and he felt encouraged to push the subject 
further. 

“ And you think that the political machine is rolling 
downward toward this bottom ? ” lie said, with an inter- 
est in the answer that, living in the quiet and forgetfulness 
of his own home, he would have laughed at himself for 
entertaining. But our sensibilities become quickened by 
collision, and opposition is known even to create love. 

Mrs. Bloomfield was quick-witted, intelligent, cultivated 
and shrewd. She saw the motive at a glance, and, notwith- 
standing she saw and felt all its abuses, strongly attached 
to the governing principle of her country’s social organi- 
zation, as is almost universally the case with the strongest 
minds and most generous hearts of the nation, she was not 
disposed to let a stranger carry away a false impression of 
her sentiments on such a point. 

“ Did you ever study logic, Sir George Templemore ? ” 
she asked, archly. 

“ A little, though not enough I fear to influence my 
mode of reasoning, or even to leave me familiar with the 
terms.” 

“ Oh ! I am not about to assail you with sequiturs and 
non-sequiturs , dialectics and all the mysteries of Denk-Lehre , 
but simply to remind you there is such a thing as the bot- 
tom of a subject. When I tell you we are flying toward 
the bottom of our institutions, it is in the intellectual 
sense, and not, as you have erroneously imagined, in an 
unintellectual sense. I mean that we are getting to under- 
stand them, which I fear we did not absolutely do at the 
commencement of the ‘experiment.’ ” 

“But I think you will admit, that as the civilization of 
the country advances, some material changes must occur ; 
your people cannot always remain stationary ; they must, 
either go backward or forward.” 

“ Up or down, if you will allow me to correct your phra- 


HOME AS FOUND . 


59 


seology. The civilization of the country, in one sense at 
least, is retrogressive, and the people, as they cannot ‘ go 
up,’ betray a disposition to go ‘ down.’ ” 

“ You deal in enigmas, and I am afraid to think I under- 
stand you.” 

“ I mean, merely, that gallows are fast disappearing, 
and that the people — le peuple , you will understand — begin 
to accept money. In both particulars, I think there is a 
sensible change for the worse, within my own recollection.” 

Mrs. Bloomfield then changed her manner, and from 
using that light-hearted gayety with which she often ren- 
dered her conversation piquant e, and even occasionally 
brilliant, she became more grave and explicit. The sub- 
ject soon turned to that of punishments, and few men 
could have reasoned more sensibly, justly, or forcibly, on 
such a subject, than this slight and fragile-looking young 
woman. Without the least pedantry, with a beauty of 
language that the other sex seldom attains, and with a 
delicacv of discrimination, and a sentiment that were 
strictly' feminine, she rendered a theme interesting, that, 
however important in itself, is forbidding, veiling all its 
odious and revolting features in the refinement and finesse 
of her own polished mind. 

Eve could have listened all night, and, at every syllable 
that fell from the lips of her friend, she felt a glow of tri- 
umph ; for she was proud of letting an intelligent for- 
eigner see that America did contain women worthy to be 
ranked with the best of other countries — a circumstance 
that they who merely frequented what is called the world, 
she thought might be reasonably justified in distrusting. 
In one respect, she even fancied Mrs. Bloomfield’s knowl- 
edge and cleverness superior to those which she had so 
often admired in her own sex abroad. It was untram- 
melled, equally by the prejudices incident to a fictitious 
condition of society, or by their reaction ; two circum- 
stances that often obscured the sense and candor of those 
to whom she had so often listened with pleasure in other 
countries. The singularly feminine tone, too, of all that 
Mrs. Bloomfield said or thought, while it lacked nothing 
in strength, added to the charm of her conversation, and 
increased the pleasure of those that listened. 

“ Is the circle large to which Mrs. Hawker and her friends 


6o 


HOME AS FOUND. 


belong ? ” asked Sir George, as he assisted Eve and Grace 
to cloak, when they had taken leave. “A town which can 
boast of half-a-dozen such houses need not accuse itself of 
wanting society.” 

“ Ah ! there is but one Mrs. Hawker in New York,” an- 
swered Grace, “ and not many Mrs. Bloomfields in the 
world. It would be too much to say, we have even half-a- 
dozen such houses.” 

“ Have you not been struck with the admirable tone of 
this drawing-room ? ” half-whispered Eve. “ It may want 
a little of that lofty ease that one sees among the better 
portion of the old Princesses et Duchesses, which is a relic of 
a school that it is to be feared is going out ; but in its place 
there is a winning nature, with as much dignity as is neces- 
sary, and a truth that gives us confidence in the sincerity 
of those around us.” 

“ Upon my word, I think Mrs. Hawker quite fit for a 
Duchess.” 

“You mean a Duchesse ,” said Eve, “ and yet she is with- 
out the manner that we understand by such a word. Mrs. 
Hawker is a lady, and there can be no higher term.” 

“She is a delightful old woman,” cried John Effingham, 
“ and if twenty years younger and disposed to change her 
condition, I should really be afraid to enter the house.” 

“ My dear sir,” put in the captain, “ I will make her Mrs. 
Truck to-morrow, and say nothing of years, if she could be 
content to take up with such an offer. Why, sir, she is no 
woman, but a saint in petticoats ! I felt the whole time as 
if talking to my own mother, and as for ships, she knows 
more about them than I do ! ” 

Tire whole party laughed at the strength of the captain’s 
admiration, and getting into carriages proceeded to the 
last of the houses they intended visiting that night. 


HOME AS FOUND , 


6 1 


CHAPTER V. 

“ So turns she every man the wrong side out ; 

And never gives to truth and virtue, that 
Which simpleness and merit purchaseth.” 

Much Ado about Nothing. 

Mrs. Houston was what is termed a fashionable woman 
in New York. She, foo, was of a family of local note, 
though of one much less elevated in the olden time than 
that of Mrs. Hawker. Still her claims were admitted 
by the most fastidious on such points, for a few do remain 
who think descent indispensable to gentility ; and as her 
means were ample and her tastes perhaps superior to those 
of most around her, she kept what was thought a house of 
better tone than common even in the highest circle. Eve 
had but a slight acquaintance with her ; but in Grace’s 
eyes, Mrs. Houston’s was the place of all others that she 
thought might make a favorable impression on her cousin. 
Her wish that this should prove to be the case was 'so 
strong, that, as they drove toward the door, she could not 
forbear from making an attempt to prepare Eve for what 
she was to meet. 

“ Although Mrs. Houston has a very large house for 
New York, and lives in a uniform style, you are not to 
expect antechambers and vast suites of rooms, Eve,” said 
Grace; “such as you have been accustomed to see 
abroad.” 

“It is not necessary, my dear cousin, to enter a house 
of four or five windows in front, to see it is not a house of 
twenty or thirty. I should be very unreasonable to expect 
an Italian palazzo or a Parisian hotel in this good town.” 

“We are not old enough for that yet, Eve ; a hundred 
years hence, Mademoiselle Viefville, such things may exist 
here.” 

“ Bien sih\ Cest nature ?. .” 

“ A hundred years hence, as the world tends, Grace, they 
are not likely to exist anywhere, except as taverns, or hos- 
pitals, or manufactories. But what have we to do, coz., 
with a century ahead of us ? Young as we both are, we 
cannot hope to live that time.” 


62 


HOME AS FOUND . 


Grace would have been puzzled to account satisfactorily 
to herself for the strong desire she felt that neither of her 
companions should expect to see such a house as their 
senses so plainly told them did not exist in the place ; but 
her foot moved in the bottom of the carriage, for she was 
not half satisfied with her cousin’s answer. 

“All I mean, Eve,” she said, after a pause, “ is, that one 
ought not to expect, in a town as new as this, the improve- 
ments that one sees in an older state of society.” 

“ And have Mademoiselle Viefville or I ever been so 
weak as to suppose that New York is Paris, or Rome, or 
Vienna ? ” 

Grace was still less satisfied, for, unknown to herself, she 
had hoped that Mrs. Houston’s ball might be quite equal 
to' a ball in either of those ancient capitals ; and she was 
now vexed that her cousin considered it so much a matter 
of course that it should not be. But there was no time for 
explanations, as the carriage now stopped. 

The noise, confusion, calling out, swearing, and rude 
clamor before the house of Mrs. Houston, said little for the 
out-door part of the arrangements. Coachmen are no- 
where a particularly silent and civil class ; but the uncouth 
European peasants who have been preferred to the honors 
of the whip in New York, to the usual feelings of competi- 
tion and contention, added that particular feature of 
humility which is known to distinguish “the beggar on 
horseback.” The imposing equipages of our party, how- 
ever, had that effect on most of these rude brawlers, which 
a display of wealth is known to produce on the vulgar- 
minded ; and the ladies got into the house through a lane 
of coachmen, by yielding a little to a chevaux de f rise of 
whips, without any serious calamity. 

“ One hardly knows which is the most terrific,” said 
Eve, involuntarily, as soon as the door closed on them — 
“ the noise within or the noise without ! ” 

This was spoken rapidly, and in French, to Mademoiselle 
Viefville, but Grace heard and understood it, and for the 
first time in her life she perceived that Mrs. Houston’s 
company was not composed of nightingales. The surprise 
is, that the discovery should have come so late. 

“ I am delighted at having got into this house,” said Sir 
George, who, having thrown his cloak to his own servant, 


HOME AS EO USED. 


*3 

stood with the two other gentlemen waiting the descent of 
the ladies from the upper room, where the bad arrange- 
ments of the house compelled them to uncloak and to put 
aside their shawls, “as 1 am told it is the best house in 
town to see the other sex.” 

“To hear them, would be nearer the truth, perhaps,” 
returned John Effingham. “ As for pretty women, one can 
hardly go amiss in New York ; and your ears now tell you 
that they do not come into the world to be seen only.” 

The baronet smiled, but he was too well bred to contra- 
dict or to assent. Mademoiselle Viefville, unconscious that 
she was violating the proprieties, walked into the rooms 
by herself, as soon as she descended, followed by Eve, but 
Grace shrank to the side of John Effingham, whose arm 
she took as a step necessary even to decorum. 

Mrs. Houston received her guests with ease and dignity. 
She was one of those females that the American world calls 
gay ; in other words, she opened her own house to a very 
promiscuous society, ten or a dozen times in a winter, and 
accepted the greater part of the invitations she got to other 
people’s. Still, in most other countries, as a fashionable 
woman, she would have been esteemed a model of devotion 
to the duties of a wife and a mother, for she paid a per- 
sonal attention to her household, and had actually taught 
all her children the Lord’s prayer, the creed, and the ten 
commandments. She attended church twice every Sunday, 
and only stayed at home from the evening lectures that the 
domestics might have the opportunity of going (which, by 
the way, they never did) in her stead. Feminine, well- 
mannered, rich, pretty, of a very positive social condition, 
and naturally kind-hearted and disposed to sociability, 
Mrs. Houston, supported by an indulgent husband, who so 
much loved to see people with the appearance of happi- 
ness, that he was not particular as to the means, had found 
no difficulty in rising to the pinnacle of fashion, and of 
having her name in the mouths of all those who find it 
necessary to talk of somebodies, in order that they may 
seem to be somebodies themselves. All this contributed 
to Mrs. Houston’s happiness, or she fancied it did; and as 
every passion is known to increase by indulgence, she had 
insensibly gone on in her much-envied career, until, as has 
just been said, she reached the summit. 


6 4 


HOME AS FOEXD, 


“ These rooms are very crowded,” said Sir George, glanc- 
ing his eyes around two very pretty little narrow drawing- 
rooms that were beautifully, not to say richly furnished ; 
“one wonders that the same contracted style of building 
should be so very general in a town that increases as rap- 
idly as this, and where fashion has no fixed abode, and 
land is so abundant.” 

“Mrs. Bloomfield will tell you,” said Eve, “that these 
houses are types of the social state of the country, in 
which no one is permitted to occupy more than his share 
of ground.” 

“But there are reasonably large dwellings in the place. 
Mrs. Hawker has a good house, and your father’s, for in- 
stance, would be thought so too, in London even ; and 
yet I fancy you will agree with me in thinking that a good 
room is almost unknown in New York.” 

“ I do agree with you in this particular, certainly ; for 
to meet with a good room one must go into the houses 
built thirty years ago. We have inherited these snugger- 
ies, however, England not having much to boast of in the 
way of houses.” 

“In the way of town residences I agree with you en- 
tirely, as a whole, though we have some capital excep- 
tions. Still I do not think we are quite as compact as 
this ; do you not fancy the noise increased in consequence 
of its being so confined ? ” 

Eve laughed, and shook her head quite positively. 

“What would it be if fairly let out?” she said. “But 
we will not waste the precious moments, but turn our eyes 
about us in quest of the belles. Grace, you who are so 
much at home, must be our Cicerone, and tell us which 
are the idols we are to worship.” 

“ Dites moi premeirement ; que veut dire une belle a New 
York?” demanded Mademoiselle Viefville. “ Apparent- 
merit , tout le monde est joli .” 

“A belle, mademoiselle,” returned John Effingham, “is 
not necessarily beautiful, the qualifications for the char- 
acter being various and a little contradictory. One may 
be a belle by means of money, a tongue, an eye, a foot, 
teeth, a laugh, or an \ other separate feature or grace ; 
though no woman was ever yet a belle , I believe, by means 
of the head, considered collectively. But why deal in de- 


HOME AS FOUND. 


65 


scription when the thing itself confronts us ? The young 
lady standing diregfcfy before us is a belle of the most ap- 
proved stamp and silvery tone. Is it not Miss Ring 
Grace ? ” 

The answer was in the affirmative, and the eyes of the. 
whole party turned toward the subject of this remark. The 
young lady in question was about twenty, rather tall for 
an American woman, not conspicuously handsome, but 
like most around her of delicate features and frame, arid 
with such a physique as, under proper training, would 
have rendered her the beau-ideal of feminine delicacy and 
gentleness. She had natural spirit, likewise, as appeared 
in her clear blue eye, and, moreover, she had the spirit to 
be a belle. 

Around this young creature were clustered no less than 
five young men, dressed in the height of the fashion, all of 
whom seemed to be entranced with the words that fell from 
her lips, and each of whom appeared anxious to say some- 
thing clever in return. They all laughed, the lady most, 
and sometimes all spoke at once. Notwithstanding these 
outbreakings, Miss Ring did most of the talking, and once 
or twice as a young man would gape after a most exhilarat- 
ing show of merriment, and discover an inclination to re- 
treat, she managed to recall him to his allegiance by some 
remark particularly pertinent to himself or his feelings.’. 

“ Qui est cette darnel ” asked Mademoiselle Viefville, 
very much as one would put a similar question on seeing a 
man enter a church during service with his hat on. 

“ Elle est demoiselle ,” returned Eve. 

“ Quelle horreur ! ” 

“Nay, nay, mademoiselle, I shall not allow you to set 
up France as immaculate on this point, neither,” said John 
Effingham, looking at the last speaker with an affected 
frown : “ a young lady may have a tongue, and she may 
even speak to a young gentleman, and not be guilty of 
felony ; although I will admit that five tongues are unneces- 
sary, and that five listeners are more than sufficient for the 
wisdom of twenty in petticoats.” 

“ C' est une horreur ! ” 

“ I dare say Miss Ring would think it a greater horror to 
to obliged to pass an evening in a row of girls, unspoken 
to, except to be asked to dance, and admired only in the 

5 


66 


HOME AS FOUND. 


distance. But let us take seats on that sofa, and then we 
may go beyond the pantomime and become partakers in 
the sentiment of the scene.” 

Grace and Eve were now led off to dance, and the others 
did as John Effingham had suggested. In the eyes of the 
belle and her admirers they who had passed thirty were of 
no account, and her listeners succeeded in establishing 
themselves quietly within ear-shot — this was almost at 
duelling distance, too — without at all interrupting the 
regular action of the piece. We extract a little of the dia- 
logue by way of giving a more dramatic representation of 
the scene. 

“ Do you think the youngest Miss Danvers beautiful ? ” 
asked the belle, while her eye wandered in quest of a sixth 
gentleman to “ entertain,” as the phrase is. “ In my opin- 
ion she is absolutely the prettiest female in Mrs. Hous- 
ton’s rooms this night.” 

The young men, one and all, protested against this judg- 
ment, and with perfect truth, for Miss Ring was too origi- 
nal to point out charms that every one could see. 

“ They say it will not be a match between her and Mr. 
Egbert, after everybody has supposed it settled so long. 
What is your opinion, Mr. Edson ? ” 

This timely question prevented Mr. Edson’s retreat, for 
he had actually got so far in this important evolution as to 
have gaped and turned his back. Recalled, as it were by 
the sound of the bugle, Mr. Edson was compelled to say 
something, a sore affliction to him always. 

“ Oh ! I’m quite of your way of thinking ; they have 
certainly courted too long to think of marrying.” 

“ I detest long courtships ; they must be perfect antidotes 
to love ; are they not, Mr. Moreland?” 

A truant glance of Mr. Moreland’s eye was rebuked by 
this appeal, and instead of looking for a place of refuge he 
now merely looked sheepish. He, however, entirely agreed 
with the young lady, as the surer way of getting out of the 
difficulty. 

“ Pray, Mr. Summerfield, how do you like the last Hajji 
— Miss Eve Effingham ? To my notion, she is prettyish, 
though by no means as well as her cousin, Miss Van Cort- 
landt, who is really rather good-looking.” 

As Eve and Grace were the two most truly lovely young 


HOME AS FOUND. 


67 


women in the rooms, this opinion, as well as the loud tone 
in which it was given, startled Mademoiselle Viefville 
quite as much as the subjects that the belle had selected 
for discussion. She would have moved, as listening to a 
conversation that was not meant for their ears ; but John 
Effingham quietly assured her that Miss Ring seldom 
spoke in company without intending as many persons as 
possible to hear her. 

“ Miss Effingham is very plainly dressed for an only 
daughter,” continued the young lady, “ though that lace 
of her cousin’s is real point ! I’ll engage it, cost every cent 
of ten dollars a yard ! They are both engaged to be mar- 
ried, I hear.” 

“ Ciel ! ” exclaimed Mademoiselle Viefville. 

“Oh ! that is nothing,” observed John Effingham, coolly, 
“ Wait a moment, and you’ll hear that they have been 
privately married these six months, if, indeed, you hear no 
more.” 

“ Of course this is but an idle tale ? ” said Sir George 
Templemore, with a concern which, in spite of his good 
breeding, compelled him to put a question that, under 
other circumstances, would scarcely have been permis- 
sible. 

“ As true as the gospel. But listen to the bell, it is 
ringing for the good of the whole parish.” 

“ The affair between Miss Effingham and Mr. Morpeth, 
who knew her abroad, I understand is entirely broken off ; 
some say the father objected to Mr. Morpeth’s want of 
fortune ; others that the lady was fickle, while some accuse 
the gentleman of the same vice. Don’t you think it shock- 
ing to jilt, in either sex, Mr. Mosely ? ” 

The retiring Mr. Mosely was drawn again within the 
circle, and was obliged to confess that he thought it was 
very shocking in either sex to jilt. 

“ If I were a man,” continued the belle, “ I would never 
think of a young woman who had once jilted a lover. To 
my mind it bespeaks a bad heart, and a woman with a 
bad heart cannot make a very amiable wife.” 

“ What an exceedingly clever creature she is,” whispered 
Mr. Mosely to Mr. Moreland, and he now made up his 
mind to remain and be “entertained ” some time longer. 

“ I think poor Mr. Morpeth greatly to be pitied ; for no 


68 


HOME AS FOUND. 


man would be so silly as to be attentive seriously to a lady 
without encouragement. Encouragement is the ne plus 
ultra of courtship ; are you not of my opinion, Mr. Wal- 
worth ? ” 

Mr. Walworth was number five of the entertainees, and 
lie did understand Latin, of which the young lady, though 
fond of using scraps, knew literally nothing. He smiled 
an assent, therefore, and the belle felicitated herself in hav- 
ing “entertained ” him effectually ; nor was she mistaken. 

“ Indeed, they say Miss Effingham had several affairs 
of the heart while in Europe, but it seems she was unfor- 
tunate in them all.” 

“ Mats , ceci est tr op fort ! J'e ne pen x plus c colder T 

“ My dear mademoiselle, compose yourself. The crisis 
is not yet arrived, by any means.” 

“ I understand she still corresponds with a German 
baron and an Italian marquis, though both engagements 
are absolutely broken off. Some people say she walks 
into company alone, unsupported by any gentleman, by 
way of announcing a firm determination to remain single 
for life.” 

A common exclamation from the young men proclaimed 
their disapprobation ; and that night three of them ac- 
tually repeated the thing, as a well-established truth, and 
two of the three, failing of something better to talk about, 
also announced that Eve was actually engaged to be 
married. 

“ There is something excessively indelicate in a young 
lady’s moving about a room without having a gentleman’s 
arm to lean on ! I always feel as if such a person was out 
of her place, and ought to be in the kitchen.” 

“But, Miss Ring, what well-bred person does it ?” sput- 
tered Mr. Moreland. “ No one ever heard of such a thing 
in good society. ’Tis quite shocking ! Altogether unpre- 
cedented.” 

“ It strikes me as being excessively coarse ! ” 

“ Oh ! manifestly ; quite rustic ! ” exclaimed Mr. Edson. 

“What can possibly be more vulgar ! ” added Mr, Wal- 
worth. 

“ I never heard of such a thing among the right sort ! ” 
said Mr. Mosely. 

“ A young lady who can be so brazen as to come into a 


HOME AS FOUND . 


69 


room without a gentleman’s arm to lean on, is, in my 
judgment at least, but indifferently educated, Hajji or no 
Hajji. Mr. Edson, have you ever felt the tender passion ? 
I know you have been desperately in love once, at least ; 
do describe to me some of the symptoms, in order that I 
may know when I am seriously attacked myself by the 
disease.” 

“ Mais , ceci est ridicule ! Id enfant s'est sauvee du Charenton 
de New York." 

“ From the nursery rather, mademoiselle ; you perceive 
she does not yet know how to walk alone.” 

Mr. Edson now protested that he was too stupid to feel 
a passion as intellectual as love, and that he was afraid 
he w x as destined by nature to remain as insensible as a 
block. 

“ One never knows, Mr. Edson,” said the young lady 
encouragingly. “ Several of my acquaintances, who 
thought themselves quite safe, have been seized suddenly, 
and, though none have actually died, more than one has 
been roughly treated, I assure you.” 

Here the young men, one and all, protested that she was 
excessively clever. Then succeeded a pause, for Miss 
Ring was inviting, with her eyes, a number six to join the 
circle, her ambition being dissatisfied with five entertainees, 
as she saw that Miss Trumpet, a rival belle, had managed 
to get exactly that number also, in the other room. All 
the gentlemen availed themselves of the cessation in wit 
to gape, and Mr. Edson took the occasion to remark to 
Mr. Summerfield that he understood “ lots had been sold 
in Seven Hundredth Street that morning as high as two 
hundred dollars a lot.” 

The quadrille now ended, and Eve returned toward her 
friends As she approached, the whole party compared 
her quiet, simple, feminine, and yet dignified air, with the 
restless, beau-catching, and worldly look of the belle, and 
wondered by what law of nature, or of fashion, the one 
could possibly become the subject of the other’s comments. 
Eve never appeared better than on that evening. Her 
dress had all the accuracy and finish of a Parisian toilette, 
being equally removed from exaggeration and neglect ; 
and it was worn with the ease of one accustomed to be 
elegantly attired, and yet never decked with finery. Her 


70 


HOME AS FOUND. 


step even was that of lady, having neither the mincing 
tread of a Paris grisette, a manner that sometimes ascends 
even to the bourgeoises the march of a cockneyess, nor the 
tiptoe swing of a belle ; but it was the natural though 
regulated step of a trained and delicate woman. Walk 
alone she could certainly, and always did, except on those 
occasions of ceremony that demanded a partner. Her 
countenance, across which an unworthy thought had never 
left a trace, was an index, too, to the purity, high princi- 
ples, and womanly self-respect that controlled all her acts, 
and, in these particulars, was the very reverse of the fever- 
ish, half-hoydenish, half-affected expression of that of Miss 
Ring. 

“ They may say what they please,*’ muttered Captain 
Truck, who had been a silent but wondering listener of all 
that passed ; “she is worth as many of them as could be 
stowed in the Montauk’s lower hold.” 

Miss Ring, perceiving Eve approach, was desirous of say- 
ing something to her, for there was an eclat about a Hajji, 
after all, that rendered an acquaintance or even an intimacy 
desirable, and she smiled and courtesied. Eve returned the 
salutation, but as she did not care to approach a group of 
six, of which no less than five were men, she continued to 
move toward her own party. This reserve compelled Miss 
Ring to advance a step or two, when Eve was obliged to 
stop. Courtesyingto her partner, she thanked him for his 
attention, relinquished his arm, and turned to meet the lady. 
At the same instant the five “ entertainees ” escaped in a 
body, equally rejoiced at their release, and proud of their 
captivity. 

“ I have been dying to come and speak to you, Miss 
Effingham,” commenced Miss Ring, “ but these five giants 
(she emphasized the word we have put in italics) so beset 
me, that escape was quite impossible. There ought to be 
a law that but one gentleman should speak to a lady at a 
time.” 

“ I thought there was such a law already,” said Eve, 
quietly. 

“ You mean in good breeding ; but no one thinks of those 
antiquated laws nowadays. Are you beginning to be rec- 
onciled a little to your own country ? ” 

“ It is not easy to effect a reconciliation where there has 


HOME AS FOUND. 


7 1 


been no misunderstanding. I hope I have never quarrelled 
with my country, or my country with me.” 

“ Oh ! it is not exactly that I mean. Cannot one need a 
reconciliation without a quarrel ? What do you say to this, 
Mr. Edson ? ” 

Miss Ring having detected some symptoms of desertion 
in the gentleman addressed, had thrown in this question 
by way of recall ; when, turning to note its effect, she per- 
ceived that all of her clientele had escaped. A look of 
surprise and mortification and vexation it was not in her 
power to suppress, and then came one of horror. 

“ How conspicuous we have made ourselves, and it is all 
my fault ! ” she said, for the first time that evening permit- 
ting her voice to fall to a becoming tone. “ Why, here we 
actually are, two ladies conversing together, and no gentle- 
man near us ! ” 

“ Is that being conspicuous ? ” asked Eve, with a sim- 
plicity that was entirely natural. 

“ I am sure, Miss Effingham, one who has seen as much 
of society as you, can scarcely ask that question seriously. 
I do not think I have done so improper a thing since I was 
fifteen ; and, dear me ! dear rne ! how to escape is the ques- 
tion. You have permitted your partner to go, and I do 
not see a gentleman of my acquaintance near us, to give 
me his arm ! ” 

“ As your distress is occasioned by my company,” said 
Eve, “it is fortunately in my power to relieve it.” Thus 
saying, she quietly walked across the room, and took her 
seat next to Mademoiselle Viefville. 

Miss Ring held up her hands in amazement, and then 
fortunately perceiving one of the truants gaping at no 
great distance, she beckoned him to her side. 

“ Have the goodness to give me your arm, Mr. Summer- 
field,” she said, “ I am dying to get out of this unpleasantly 
conspicuous situation ; but you are the first gentleman that 
has approached me this twelvemonth. I would not for the 
world do so brazen a thing as Miss Effingham has just 
achieved ; would you believe it she positively went from 
this spot to her seat, quite alone ! ” 

“The Hajjis are privileged.” 

“ They make themselves so. But everybody knows 
how bold and unwomanly the French females are. One 


72 


HOME AS FOUND. 


could wish, notwithstanding, that our own people would 
not import their audacious usages into this country.” 

“ It is a thousand pities that Mr. Clay, in his com- 
promise, neglected to make an exception against that 
article. A tariff on impudence would not be at all sec- 
tional.” 

“ It might interfere with the manufacture at home, not- 
withstanding,” said John Effingham ; for the lungs were 
strong, and the rooms of Mrs. Houston so small, that little 
was said that evening, which was not heard by any who 
chose to listen. But Miss Ring never listened, it being 
no part of the vocation of a belle to perform that inferior 
office, and sustained by the protecting arm of Mr. Sum- 
merfield, she advanced more boldly into the crowd, where 
she soon contrived to catch another group of even six 
“entertainees.” As for Mr. Summerfield, he lived a twelve- 
month on the reputation of the exceedingly clever thing 
he had just uttered. 

“ There come Ned and Aristabulus,” said John Effing- 
ham, as soon as the tones of Miss Ring’s voice were lost 
in the din of fifty others, pitched to the same key. “ A 
present, mademoiselle, je vais nous venger .” 

As John Effingham uttered this, he took Captain Truck 
by the arm, and went to meet his cousin and the land- 
agent. The latter he soon separated from Mr. Effingham, 
and with this new recruit, he managed to get so near to 
Miss Ring as to attract her attention. Although fifty, 
John Effingham was known to be a bachelor, well con- 
nected, and to have twenty thousand a year. In addition, 
he was well preserved and singularly handsome, besides 
having an air that set all pretending gentility at defiance. 
These were qualities that no belle despised, and ill-assorted 
matches were, moreover, just coming into fashion in New 
York. Miss Ring had an intuitive knowledge that he 
wished to speak to her, and she was not slow T in offering 
the opportunity. The superior tone of John Effingham, 
his caustic wit and knowledge of the world, dispersed the 
five beaux incontinently ; these persons having a natural 
antipathy to every one of the qualities named. 

“ I hope you will permit me to presume on an acquaint- 
ance that extends back as far as your grandfather, Miss 
Ring,” he said, “ to present two very intimate friends, Mr. 


HOME AS FOUND . 


73 


Bragg and Mr. Truck ; gentlemen who will well reward 
the acquaintance/’ 

The lady bowed graciously, for it was a matter of con- 
science with her to receive every man with a smile. She 
was still too much in awe of the master of ceremonies to 
open her batteries of attack, but John Effingham soon re- 
lieved her, by affecting a desire to speak to another lady. 
The belle had now the two strangers to herself, and having 
heard that the Effinghams had an Englishman of condition 
as a companion, who was travelling under a false name, 
she fancied herself very clever in detecting him at once in 
the person of Aristabulus ; while by the aid of a lively im- 
agination, she thought Mr. Truck was his travelling Men- 
tor, and a divine of the Church of England. The incognito 
she was too well bred to hint at, though she wished both 
the gentlemen to perceive that a belle was not to be mysti- 
fied in this easy manner. Indeed, she was rather sensitive 
on the subject of her readiness in recognizing a man of 
fashion under any circumstances, and to let this be known 
was her very first object, as soon as she was relieved from 
the presence of John Effingham. 

“ You must be struck with the unsophisticated nature 
and the extreme simplicity of our society, Mr. Bragg,” she 
said, looking at him significantly ; “We are very conscious 
it is not what it might be, but do you not think it pretty 
well for beginners ? ” 

Now, Mr. Bragg had an entire consciousness that he 
had never seen any society that deserved the name before 
this very night, but he was supported in giving his opin- 
ions by that secret sense of his qualifications to fill any 
station, which formed so conspicuous a trait in his charac- 
ter, and his answer was given with an aplomb that would 
have added weight to the opinion of the veriest JUgant of 
the Chaussee d’Antin. 

“ It is indeed a good deal unsophisticated,” he said, “and 
so simple that anybody can understand it. I find but a 
single fault with this entertainment, which is, in all else, 
the perfection of elegance in my eyes, and that is, that 
there is too little room to swing the legs in dancing.” 

“ Indeed ? I did not expect that — is it not the best 
usage of Europe, now, to bring a quadrille into the very 
minimum of space ?” 


74 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“ Quite the contrary, miss. All good dancing requires 
evolutions. The dancing dervishes, for instance, would 
occupy quite as much space as both of these sets that are 
walking before us, and I believe it is now generally ad- 
mitted that all good dancing needs room for the legs.” 

“We necessarily get a little behind the fashions, in this 
distant country. Pray, sir, is it usual for ladies to walk 
alone in society ? ” 

“Woman was not made to move through life alone, 
miss,” returned Aristabulus with a sentimental glance of 
the eye, for he never let a good opportunity for prefer- 
ment slip through his fingers, and failing of Miss Effing- 
ham, or Miss Van Cortlandt, of whose estates and con- 
nections he had some pretty accurate notions, it struck him 
Miss Ring might possibly be a very eligible selection, as 
all was grist that came to his mill ; “this, I believe, is an 
admitted truth.” 

“ By life you mean matrimony, I suppose.” 

“Yes, miss, a man always means matrimony when he 
speaks to a young lady.” 

This rather disconcerted Miss Ring, who picked her 
nosegay, for she was not accustomed to hear gentlemen 
talk to ladies of matrimony, but ladies to talk to gentle- 
men. Recovering her self-possession, however, she said 
with a promptitude that did the school to wffiicli she be- 
longed infinite credit : 

“You speak, sir, like one having experience.” 

“ Certainly, miss ; I have been in love ever since I was 
ten years old ; I may say I was born in love, and hope to 
die in love.” 

This a little out-Heroded Herod, but the belle was not a 
person to be easily daunted on such a subject. She smiled 
graciously, therefore, and continued the conversation with 
renewed spirit. 

“ You travelled gentlemen get odd notions,” she said, 
“ and more particularly on such subjects. I always feel 
afraid to discuss them with foreigners, though with my 
own countrymen I have few reserves. Pray, Mr. Truck, 
are you satisfied with America ? Do you find it the coun- 
try you expected to see ? ” 

“Certainly, marm ;” for so they pronounced this w T ord 
in the river, and the captain cherished his first impressions ; 


Home as found. 


75 


“when we sailed from Portsmouth, I expected that the 
first land we should make would be the Highlands of Nave- 
sink ; and, although a little disappointed, I have had the 
satisfaction of laying eyes on it at last.” 

“ Disappointment, I fear, is the usual fate of those who 
come from the other side. Is this dwelling of Mrs. Hous- 
ton’s equal to the residence of an English nobleman, Mr. 
Bragg ?” 

“ Considerably better, miss, especially in the way of 
republican comfort.” 

Miss Ring, like all belles , detested the word republican, 
their vocation being clearly to exclusion, and she pouted 
a little affectedly. 

“ I should distrust the quality of such comfort, sir,” she 
said with point ; “but are the rooms at all comparable 
with the rooms in Apsley House, for instance ? ” 

“ My dear miss, Apsley House is a toll-gate lodge com- 
pared to this mansion ! I doubt if there be a dwelling in 
all England half as magnificent — indeed, I cannot imagine 
anything more brilliant and rich.” 

Aristabulus was not a man to do things by halves, and it 
was a point of honor with him to know something of every- 
thing. It is true he no more could tell where Apsley House 
was, or whether it was a tavern or a jail, than he knew half 
the other things on which he delivered oracular opinions ; 
but when it became necessary to speak, he was not apt to 
balk conversation from any ignorance, real or affected. The 
opinion he had just given, it is true, had a little surpassed 
Miss Ring’s hopes ; for the next thing in her ambition to 
being a belle\ and of “ entertaining ’’gentlemen, was to fancy 
she was running her brilliant career in an orbit of fashion 
that lay parallel to that of the “nobility and gentry” of 
Great Britain. 

“ Well, this surpasses my hopes,” she said, “although I 
was aware we are nearly on a level with the more improved 
tastes of Europe ; still I thought we were a little inferior 
to that part of the world yet.” 

“ Inferior, miss ! That is a word that should never pass 
your lips ; you are inferior to nothing, whether in Europe 
or America, Asia or Africa.” 

As Miss Ring had been accustomed to do most of the 
flattering herself, as it behoveth a belle , she began to be dis- 


7 6 


HOME AS FOUND. 


concerted with the directness of the compliments of Aris* 
tabulus, who was disposed to “ make hay while the sun 
shines,” and she turned in a little confusion to the captain 
by way of relief ; we say confusion, for the young lady, al- 
though so liable to be misunderstood, was not actually im- 
pudent, but merely deceived in the relation of things ; or 
in other words, by some confusion in usages, she had hith- 
erto permitted herself to do that in society which female 
performers sometimes do on the stage — enact the part of 
a man. 

“ You should tell Mr. Bragg, sir,” she said, with an ap- 
pealing look at the captain, “ that flattery is a dangerous 
vice, and one altogether unsuited to a Christian.” 

“ It is, indeed, marm, and one that I never indulge in. 
No one under my orders can accuse me of flattery.” 

By “ under orders,” Miss Ring understood curates and 
deacons ; for she was aware the Church of England had 
clerical distinctions of this sort, that are unknown in Amer- 
ica. 

“ I hope, sir, you do not intend to quit this country with- 
out favoring us with a discourse.” 

“Not I, marm — I am discoursing pretty much from 
morning till night when among my own people, though I 
own that this conversing rather puts me out of my reckon- 
ing. Let me get my foot on the planks I love, with an at- 
tentive audience, and a good cigar in my mouth, and I’ll 
hold forth with any bishop in the universe.” 

“ A cigar ! ” exclaimed Miss Ring, in surprise. “ Do 
gentlemen of your profession use cigars when on duty ? ” 

“ Does a parson take his fees ? Why, miss, there is not 
a man among us who does not smoke from morning till 
night.” 

“ Surely not on Sundays ? ” 

“ Two for one, on those days more than any other.” 

“ And your people, sir, what do they do all this time ? ” 

“ Why, marm, most of them chew ; and those that don’t, 
if they cannot find a pipe have a dull time of it. For my 
part, I shall hardly relish the good place itself, if cigars 
are prohibited.” 

Miss Ring was surprised ; but she had heard that the 
English clergy were more free than our own, and then she 
had been accustomed to think everything English of the 


HOME AS FOUND. 


77 


purest water. A little reflection reconciled her to the in- 
novation ; and the next day, at a dinner party, she was 
heard defending the usage as a practice that had a prece- 
dent in the ancient incense of the altar. At that moment, 
however, she was dying to impart her discoveries to others ; 
and she kindly proposed to the captain and Aristabulus to 
introduce them to some of her acquaintances, as they must 
find it dull, being strangers, to know no one. Introduc- 
tions and cigars were the captain’s hobbies, and he accepted 
the offer with joy, Aristabulus uniting cordially in the 
proposition, as he fancied he had a right, under the Con- 
stitution of the United States of America, to be introduced 
to every human being with whom he came in contact. 

It is scarcely necessary to say how much the party with 
whom the two neophytes in fashion had come, enjoyed all 
this, though they concealed their amusemeut under the 
calm exterior of people of the world. From Mr. Effingham 
the mystification was carefully concealed by his cousin, as 
the former would have felt it due to Mrs. Houston, a well- 
meaning but silly woman, to put an end to it. Eve and 
Grace laughed, as merry girls would be apt to laugh at 
such an occurrence, and they danced the remainder of the 
evening with lighter hearts than ever. At one, the com- 
pany retired in the same informal manner, as respects an- 
nouncements and the calling of carriages, as that in which 
they entered ; most to lay their drowsy heads on their pil- 
lows, and Miss Ring to ponder over the superior manners 
of a polished young Englishman, and to dream of the fra- 
grance of a sermon that was preserved in tobacco. 


CHAPTER VI. 

“ Marry, our play is the most lamentable 
Comedy, and most cruel death of Pyramus and 
Thisby.” — Peter Quince. 

Our task in the way of describing town society will soon 
be ended. The gentlemen of the Effingham family had 
been invited to meet Sir George Templemore at one or two 
dinners, to which the latter had been invited in conse- 


78 


HOME AS FOUND. 


quence of his letters, most of which were connected with 
his pecuniary arrangements. As one of these entertain- 
ments was like all the rest of the same character, a very 
brief account of it will suffice to let the reader into the se- 
cret of the excellence of the genus. 

A well-spread board, excellent viands, highly respectable 
cookery, and delicious wines, were everywhere met. Two 
rows of men clad in dark dresses, a solitary female at the 
head of the table, or, if fortunate, with a supporter of the 
same sex near her, invariably composed the convives. The 
exaggerations of a province were seen ludicrously in one 
particular custom. The host, or perhaps it might have 
been the hostess, had been told there should be a contrast 
between the duller light of the reception-room and the 
brilliancy of the table, and John Effingham actually hit his 
legs against a stool in floundering through the obscurity 
of the first drawing-room he entered on one of the occa- 
sions in question. 

When seated at table, the first great duty of restauration 
performed, the conversation turned on the prices of lots, 
speculations in" towns, or the currency. After this came 
the regular assay of wines, during which it was easy to 
fancy the master of the house a dealer, for he usually sat 
either sucking a siphon or flourishing a corkscrew. The 
discourse would now have done credit to the annual meet- 
ing and dinner of the German exporters, assembled at 
Rudesheim to bid for the article. 

Sir George was certainly on the point of forming a very 
erroneous judgment concerning the country, when Mr. 
Effingham extricated him from this set, and introduced him 
properly into his own. Here, indeed, while there was 
much to strike a European as peculiar, and even provin- 
cial, the young baronet fared much better. He met with 
the same quality of table, relieved by an intelligence that 
was always respectable, and a manliness of tone which, if 
not unmixed, had the great merit of a simplicity and na- 
ture that are not always found in more sophisticated cir- 
cles. The occasional incongruities struck them all, more 
than the positive general faults ; and Sir George Temple- 
more did justice to the truth, by admitting frankly the 
danger he had been in of forming a too hasty opinion. 

All this time, which occupied a month, the young baro- 


HOME AS FOUND. 


79 


net got to be more and more intimate in Hudson Square, 
Eve gradually becoming more frank and unreserved with 
him, as she grew sensible that he had abandoned his hopes 
of success with herself, and Grace gradually more cautious 
and timid, as she became conscious of his power to please, 
and the interest he took in herself. 

It might have been three days after the ball at Mrs. 
Houston’s that most of the family was engaged to look in 
on a Mrs. Legend, a lady of what was called a literary 
turn, Sir George having been asked to make one of their 
party. Aristabulus was already returned to his duty in 
the country, where we shall shortly have occasion to join 
him, but an invitation had been sent to Mr. Truck, under 
the general erroneous impression of his real character. 

Taste, whether in the arts, literature, or anything else, 
is a natural impulse, like love. It is true both may be 
cultivated and heightened by circumstances, but the im- 
pulse must be voluntary, and the flow of feeling, or of 
soul, as it has become a law to style it, is not to be forced, 
or commanded to come and go at will. This is the reason 
that all premeditated enjoyments connected with the in- 
tellect, are apt tu baffle expectations, and why academies, 
literary clubs, coteries, and dinners are commonly dull. 
It is true that a body of clever people may be brought to- 
gether, and, if left to their own impulses, the characters 
of their mind will show themselves ; wit will flash, and 
thought will answer thought spontaneously ; but every 
effort to make the stupid agreeable, by giving a direction 
of a pretending intellectual nature to their efforts, is only 
rendering dulness more conspicuous by exhibiting it in 
contrast with what it ought to be to be clever, as a bad 
picture is rendered the more conspicuous by an elaborate 
and gorgeous frame. 

The latter was the fate of most of Mrs. Legend’s literary 
evenings, at which it was thought an illustration to under- 
stand even one foreign language. But it was known that 
Eve was skilled in most of the European tongues, and the 
good lady, not feeling that such accomplishments are 
chiefly useful as a means, looked about her in order to col- 
lect a set, among whom our heroine might find some one 
with whom to converse in each of her dialects. Little was 
said about if, it is true, but great efforts were made to 


So 


HOME AS FOUND. 


cause this evening to be memorable in the annals of con- 
versazioni. 

In carrying out this scheme, nearly all the wits, writers, 
artists, and literati, as the most incorrigible members of the 
book clubs w T ere styled in New York, were pressingly in- 
vited to be present. Aristabulus had contrived to earn 
such a reputation for the captain, on the night of the ball, 
that he was universally called a man of letters, and an ar- 
ticle had actually appeared in one of the papers, speaking 
of the literary merits Of the “Hon. and Rev. Mr. Truck, a 
gentleman travelling in our country, from whose liberality 
and just views, an account of our society was to be expected, 
that should, at last, do justice to our national character.” 
With such expectations, then, every true American and 
Americaness was expected to be at his or her post, for the 
solemn occasion. It was a rally of literature, in defence 
of the institutions — no, not of the institutions, for they 
were left to take care of themselves — but of the social 
character of the community. 

Alas ! it is easier to feel high aspirations on such sub- 
jects, in a provincial town, than to succeed ; for merely 
calling a place an emporium, is very far from giving it the 
independence, high tone, condensed intelligence, and tastes 
of a capital. Poor Mrs. Legend, desirous of having all 
the tongues duly represented, was obliged to invite certain 
dealers in gin from Holland, a German linen merchant from 
Saxony, an Italian Cavaliero , who amused himself in selling 
beads, and a Spanish master, who was born in Portugal, 
all of whom had just one requisite for conversation in their 
respective languages, and no more. But such assemblies 
were convened in Paris, and why not in New York? 

We shall not stop to dwell on the awful sensations with 
which Mrs. Legend heard the first ring at her door on the 
eventful night in question. It was the precursor of the 
entrance of Miss Annual, as regular a devotee of letters as 
ever conned a primer. The meeting was sentimental and 
affectionate. Before either had time, however, to disbur- 
den her mind of one-half of its prepared phrases, ring upon 
ring proclaimed more company, and the rooms were soon 
as much sprinkled with talent, as a modern novel with 
jests; Among those who came first, appeared all the for- 
eign corps, for the refreshments entered as something into 


HOME AS FOUND. 


81 


the account with them ; every blue of the place, whose 
social position in the least entitled her to be seen in such 
a house, Mrs. Legend belonging quite positively to good 
society. 

The scene that succeeded was very characteristic. A 
professed genius does nothing like other people, except in 
cases that require a display of talents. In all minor mat- 
ters, he or she is sui generis ; for sentiment is in constant 
ebullition in their souls ; this being what is meant by the 
flow of that part of the human system. 

We might here very well adopt the Homeric method, 
and call the roll of heroes and heroines, in what the French 
would term a catalogue raisonnee ; but our limits compel us 
to be less ambitious, and to adopt a simpler mode of com- 
municating facts. Among the ladies who now figured in 
the drawing-room of Mrs. Legend, besides Miss Annual, 
were Miss Monthly, Mrs. Economy, S.R.P., Marion, Lon- 
ginus, Julietta, Herodotus, D.O.V.E., and Mrs. Demonstra- 
tion ; besides many others of less note ; together with at 
least a dozen female Hajjis, whose claims to appear in such 
society were pretty much dependent on the fact that, hav- 
ing seen pictures and statues abroad, they necessarily 
must have the means of talking of them at home. The 
list of men was still more formidable in numbers, if not in 
talents. At its head stood Steadfast Dodge, Esquire, whose 
fame as a male Hajji had so far swollen since Mrs. Jarvis’ 
reunion , that, for the first time in his life, he now entered 
one of the better houses of his own country. Then there 
were the authors of “Lapis Lazuli,” “The Aunts,” “The 
Reformed,” “The Conformed,” “The Transformed,” and 
“The Deformed ;” with the editors of The Hebdomad , , 
The Night-Cap , The Chrysalis , The Real Maggot , and The 
Seek no Further ; as also, “Junius,” “Junius Brutus,” 
“Lucius Junius Brutus,” “Captain Kant,” “ Florio,” the 
“ Author of the History of Billy Linkum Tweedle,” the 
celebrated Pottawattamie Prophet, “ Single Rhyme,” a 
genius who had prudently rested his fame in verse on a 
couplet composed of one line ; besides divers amateurs and 
connoisseurs , Hajjis, who must be men of talents, as they 
had acquired all they knew very much as American 
Eclipse gained his laurels on the turf ; that is to say, by a 
free use of the whip and spur. 


82 


HOME AS FOUND. 


As Mrs. Legend sailed about her rooms amid such a 
circle, her mind expanded, her thoughts diffused them- 
selves among her guests on the principle of animal mag- 
netism, and her heart was melting with the tender sympa- 
thies of congenial tastes. She felt herself to be at the head 
of American talents, and, in the secret recesses of her rea- 
son, she determined that, did even the fate of Sodom and 
Gomorrah menace her native town, as some evil-disposed 
persons had dared to insinuate might one day be the case, 
here was enough to save it from destruction. 

It was just as the mistress of the mansion had come to 
this consoling conclusion, that the party from Hudson 
Square rang. As few of her guests came in carriages 
Mrs. Legend, who heard the rolling of wheels, felt per- 
suaded that the lion of the night was now indeed at hand, 
and with a view to a proper reception, she requested the 
company to divide itself into two lines, in order that he 
might enter, as it were, between lanes of genius. 

It may be necessary to explain at this point of our narra- 
tive, that John Effingham was perfectly aware of the error 
which existed in relation to the real character of Captain 
Truck, wherein he thought great injustice had been done 
the honest seaman ; and the old man intending to sail for 
London next morning, had persuaded him to accept this 
invitation, in order that the public mind might be disabused 
in a matter of so much importance. With a view that 
this might be done naturally and without fuss, however, he 
did not explain the mistake to his nautical friend, believ- 
ing it most probable that this could be better done inci- 
dentally as it were in the course of the evening, and feel- 
ing certain of the force of that wholesome apophthegm 
which says that “truth is powerful and must prevail.” 
“If this be so,” added John Effingham, in his explanations 
to Eve, “ there can be no place where the sacred quality 
will be so likely to assert itself as in a galaxy of geniuses, 
whose distinctive characteristic is 1 an intuitive perception 
of things in their real colors.’ ” 

When the door of Mrs. Legend’s drawing-room opened, 
in the usual noiseless manner, Mademoiselle Viefville, who 
led the way, was startled at finding herself in the precise 
situation of one who is condemned to run the gauntlet. 
Fortunately she caught a glimpse of Mrs. Legend, posted 


HOME AS FOUND. 


§3 

at the other end of the proud array, inviting her with 
smiles to approach. The invitation had been to a “ literary 
fete” and Mademoiselle Viefville was too much of a French- 
woman to be totally disconcerted at a little scenic effect on 
the occasion of a fete of any sort. Supposing she was now 
a witness of an American ceremony for the first time, for 
the want of representation in the country had been rather 
a subject of animadversion with her, she advanced steadily 
toward the mistress of the house, bestowing smile for 
smile, this being a part of the programme at which a 
Parisienne was not easily outdone. Eve followed, as usual, 
sola; Grace came next ; then Sir George ; then John 
Effingham ; the captain bringing up the rear. There had 
been a friendly contest for the precedency between the 
two last, each desiring to yield it to the other on the score 
of merit ; but the captain prevailed, by declaring “that he 
was navigating an unknown sea, and that he could do 
nothing wiser than to sail in the wake of so good a pilot 
as Mr. John Effingham.” 

As Hajjis of. approved experience, the persons who led 
the advance in this little procession were subjects of a 
proper attention and respect ; but as the admiration of 
mere vulgar travelling would in itself be vulgar, care was 
taken to reserve the condensed feeling of the company for 
the celebrated English writer and wit, who was known to 
bring up the rear. This was not a common house in which 
dollars had place, or belles rioted, but the temple of genius ; 
and every one felt an ardent desire to manifest a proper 
homage to the abilities of the established foreign writer, 
that should be in exact proportion to their indifference to 
the twenty thousand a year of John Effingham, and to the 
nearly equal amount of Eve’s expectations. 

The personal appearance of the honest tar was well 
adapted to the character he was thus called on so unex- 
pectedly to support. His hair had long been getting 
gray ; but the intense anxiety of the chase, of the wreck, 
and of his other recent adventures, had rapidly but effect- 
ually increased this mark of time, and his head was now 
nearly as white as snow. The hale, fresh red of his feat- 
ures/ which was in truth the result of exposure, might 
very well pass for the tint of port ; and his tread, which 
had always a little of the quarter-deck swing about it, 


84 


HOME AS FOUND. 


might quite easily be mistaken by a tyro for the human 
frame staggering under a load of learning. Unfortu- 
nately for those who dislike mystification, the captain 
had consulted John Effingham on the subject of the toi- 
lette, and that kind and indulgent friend had suggested 
the propriety of appearing in black small-clothes for the 
occasion, a costume that he often wore himself of an 
evening. Reality, in this instance, then, did not disap- 
point expectation, and the burst of applause with which 
the captain was received, was accompanied by a general 
murmur in commendation of the admirable manner in 
which he “looked the character.” 

“What a Byronic head,” whispered the author of “ The 
Transformed” to D. O. V. E. ; “ and was there ever such 
a curl of the lip, before, to mortal man ?” 

The truth is, the captain had thrust his tobacco into “ an 
aside,” as a monkey is known to empocher a spare nut or a 
lump of sugar. 

“ Do you think him Byronic ? To my eyes the cast of 
his head is Shakspearian, rather. Though I confess there 
is a little of Milton about the forehead ! ” 

“Pray,” said Miss Annual to Lucius Junius Brutus, 
“ which is commonly thought to be the best of his works ? 
That on a— a — a — or that on e — e — e ?” 

Now it so happened that , not a soul in the room, but 
the lion himself, had any idea what books he had written, 
and he knew only of some fifteen or twenty log-books. 
It was generally understood that he was a great English 
writer, and this was more than sufficient. 

“ I believe the world generally prefers the a — a — a,” 
said Lucius Junius Brutus; “but the few give a decided 
preference to the e — e — e.” 

“Oh ! out of all question preferable ! ” exclaimed half a 
dozen in hearing. 

“With what a classic modesty he pays his compliments 
to Mrs. Legend,” observed “ S. R. P.” “One can always 
tell a man of real genius by his temie ! ” 

“ He is so English ! ” cried Florio. “ Ah ! they are the 
only people after all ! ” 

This Florio was one of those geniuses who sigh most 
for the things that they least possess. 

By this time Captain Truck had got throughjvith listen- 


HOME AS FOUND . 


85 


ing to the compliments of Mrs. Legend, when he was 
seized upon by a circle of rabid literati, who badgered 
him with -questions concerning his opinions, notions, in- 
ferences, experiences, associations, sensations, sentiments, 
and intentions, in a way that soon threw the old man into 
a profuse perspiration. Fifty times did he wish, from the 
bottom of his soul — that soul which the crowd around him 
fancied dwelt so high in the clouds — that he was seated 
quietly by the side of Mrs. Hawker, who, he mentally 
swore, was worth all the literati in Christendom. But 
fate had decreed otherwise, and we shall leave him to his 
fortune for a time, and return to our heroine and her 
party. 

As soon as Mrs. Legend had got through with her intrb- 
ductory compliments to the captain, she sought Eve and 
Grace, wdth a consciousness that a few civilities were now 
their due. 

“I fear Miss Effingham, after the elaborate soirees of the 
literary circles in Paris, you will find our reunions of the 
same sort a little dull ; and yet I flatter myself with hav- 
ing assembled most of the talents of New York on this 
memorable occasion, to do honor to your friend. Are you 
acquainted with many of the company ? ” 

Now, Eve had never seen nor heard of a single being in 
the room, with the exception of Mr. Dodge and her own 
party, before this night, although most of them had been 
so laboriously employed in puffing each other into celeb- 
rity, for many weary years ; and, as for elaborate soirees 
she thought she had never seen one half as elaborate as 
this of Mrs. Legend’s. As it would not very well do, how- 
ever, to express all this in words, she civilly desired the 
lady to point out to her some of the most distinguished of 
company. 

“ With the greatest pleasure, Miss Effingham,” Mrs. Le- 
gend taking pride in dwelling on the merits of her guests. 
“ This heavy, grand-looking personage, in whose air one 
sees refinement and modesty at a glance, is Captain Kant, 
the editor of one of our most decidedly pious newspapers. 
His mind is distinguished for its intuitive perception of all 
that is delicate, reserved, and finished in the intellectual 
world, while, in opposition to this quality, which is almost 
feminine, his character is just as remarkable for its un- 


86 


HOME AS FOUND. 


flinching love of truth. He was never known to publish 
a falsehood, and of his foreign correspondence, in particu- 
lar, he is so exceeding careful, that he assures me he has 
every word of it written under his own eye.” 

“ On the subject of his religious scruples,” added John 
Effingham, “ he is so fastidiously exact, that I hear he ‘ says 
grace ’ over everything that goes from his press, and ‘ re- 
turns thanks’ for everything that comes to it.” 

“You know him, Mr. Effingham, by this remark? Is 
he not, truly, a man of a vocation ? ” 

“ That, indeed, he is, ma’am. He may be succinctly 
Said to have a newspaper mind, as he reduces everything 
in nature or art to news, and commonly imparts to it so 
much of his own peculiar character, that it loses all inden- 
tity with the subjects to which it originally belonged. 
One scarcely knows which to admire most about this man, 
the atmospheric transparency of his motives, for he is so 
disinterested as seldom even to think of paying for a din- 
ner when travelling, and yet so conscientious as always to 
say something obliging of the tavern as soon as he gets 
home — his rigid regard to facts, or the exquisite refinement 
and delicacy that he imparts to everything he touches. 
Over all this, too, he throws a beautiful halo of morality 
and religion, never even prevaricating in the hottest dis- 
cussion, unless with the unction of a saint ! ” 

“D.o you happen to know Florio ? ” asked Mrs. Legend, 
a little distrusting John Effingham’s account of Captain 
Kant. 

“ If I do, it must indeed be by accident. What are his 
chief characteristics, ma’am ? ” 

“ Sentiment, pathos, delicacy, and all in rhyme, too. 
You, no doubt, have heard of his triumph over Lord Byron, 
Miss Effingham ? ” 

Eve was obliged to confess that it was new to her. 

“Why, Byron wrote an ode to Greece commencing with 
‘ The Isles of Greece ! the Isles of Greece ! ’ a very feeble 
line, as any one will see, for it contained a useless and an 
unmeaning repetition.” 

“And you might add vulgar, too, Mrs. Legend,” said 
John Effingham, “since it made a palpable allusion to all 
those vulgar incidents that associate themselves in the 
mind with these said commonplace isles. The arts, phi- 


HOME AS FOUND . 


87 


losophy, poetry, eloquence, and even old Homer, are 
brought unpleasantly to one’s recollection by such an in- 
discreet invocation.” 

“ So Florio thought, and, by way of letting the world 
perceive the essential difference between the base and the 
pure coin, he wrote an ode on England, which commenced 
as such an ode should ! ” 

“ Do you happen to recollect any of it, ma’am ? ” 

“ Only the first line, which I greatly regr et, as the rhyme 
is Florio’s chief merit. But this line is of itself sufficient to 
immortalize a man.” 

“ Do not keep us in torment, dear Mrs. Legend, but let 
us have it for heaven’s sake ! ” 

“It began in this sublime strain, sir — ‘Beyond the 
wave! Beyond the wave ! ’ Now, Miss Effingham, that is 
what I call poetry ! ” 

“And well you may, ma’am,” returned the gentleman, 
who perceived Eve could scarce refrain from breaking out 
in a very unsentimental manner — “ so much pathos.” 

“ And so sententious and flowing ! ” 

“ Condensing a journey of three thousand miles, as it 
might be, into three words, and a note of admiration. I 
trust it was printed with a note of admiration, Mrs. 
Legend ? ” 

“Yes, sir, with two — one behind each wave — and such 
waves, Mr. Effingham ! ” 

V Indeed, ma’am, you may say so. One really gets a 
grand idea of them, England lying beyond each.” 

“ So much expressed in so few syllables !” 

“ I think I see every shoal, current, ripple, rock, island, 
and whale, between Sandy Hook and the Land’s End.” 

“ He hints at an epic.” 

“ Pray God he may execute one. Let him make haste, 
too, or he may get ‘ behind the age,’ ‘ behind the age.’ ” 

Here the lady was called away to receive a guest. 

“ Cousin Jack ! ” 

“Five Effingham ! ” 

“Do you not sometimes fear offending?” 

“Not a woman who begins with expressing her admira- 
tion of such a sublime thing as this. You are safe with 
such a person anywhere short of a tweak of the nose.” 

“ Mais, tout ceci est bien dr die ! ” 


88 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“You never were more mistaken in your life, mademoi- 
selle ; everybody here looks upon it as a matter of life and 
death.” 

The new guest was Mr. Pindar, one of those careless, 
unsentimental fellows, that occasionally throw off an ode 
tiiat passes through Christendom as dollars are known to 
pass from China to Norway, and yet who never fancied 
spectacles necessary to^ his appearence, solemnity to his 
face, nor soirees to his renown. After quitting Mrs. Legend 
he approached Eve, to whom he was slightly known, and 
accosted her. 

“ This is the region of taste, Miss Effingham,” he said, 
with a shrug of the jaw, if such a member can shrug ; “ and 
I do not wonder at finding you here.” 

He then chatted pleasantly a moment with the party, and 
passed on, giving an ominous gape as he drew nearer to 
the oi polloi of literature. A moment after appeared Mr. 
Gray, a man who needed nothing but taste in the public, 
and the encouragement that would follow such a taste, to 
stand at, or certainly near, the head of the poets of our 
own time. He, too, looked shyly at the galaxy, and took 
refuge in a corner. Mr. Pith followed ; a man whose caus- 
tic wit needs only a sphere for its exercise, manners to 
portray,' and a society with strong points about it to illus- 
trate, in order to enrol his name high on the catalogue of 
satirists. Another ring announced Mr. Fun, a writer of 
exquisite humor, and of finished periods, but who, having 
perpetrated a little too much sentiment, was instantly 
seized upon by all the ultra ladies who were addicted to 
the same taste in that way in the room. 

These persons came too late, like those who had already 
been too often dosed in the same way, to be impatient of 
repetitions. The three first soon got together in a corner, 
and Eve fancied they were laughing at the rest of the com- 
pany, whereas, in fact, they were merely laughingat a bad 
joke of their own ; their quick perception of the ludicrous 
having pointed out a hundred odd combinations and ab- 
surdities, that would have escaped duller minds. 

“ Who, in the name of the twelve Caesars, has Mrs. Le- 
gend got to lionize yonder, with the white summit and the 
dark base ?” asked the writer of odes. 

“Some English pamphleteer, by what I can learn,” 


an- 


HOME AS FO&ND. 


89 


swered lie of satire ; “ some fellow who has achieved a pert 
review, or written a Minerva-Pressism, and who now flour- 
ishes like a bay tree among us. A modern Horace, or a 
Juvenal on his travels.” 

“ Fun is well badgered,” observed Mr. Gray. “ Do you 
.not see that Miss Annual, Miss Monthly, and that young 
alphabet D. O. V. E., have got him within the circles of 
their petticoats, where he will be martyred on a sigh ? ” 

“ He casts longing looks this way ; he wishes you to go 
to his rescue, Pith.” 

“ I ! — Let him take his fill of sentiment! I am no homoe- 
opathist in such matters. Large doses in quick succession 
will soonest work a cure. Here comes the lion, and he 
breaks loose from his cage, like a beast that has been poked 
up with sticks.” 

“ Good evening, gentlemen,” said Captain Truck, wip- 
ing his face intensely, and who, having made his escape 
from a throng of admirers, took refuge in the first port 
that offered. 

“ You seem to be enjoying yourselves here in a rational 
and agreeable way. Quite cool and refreshing in this cor- 
ner.” 

“ And yet we have no doubt that both our reason and 
our amusement will receive a large increase from the 
addition of your society, sir,” returned Mr: Pith. “ Do 
us the favor to take a seat, I beg of you, and rest your- 
self.” 

“ With all my heart, gentlemen ; for, to own the truth, 
these ladies make warm work about a stranger, I have 
just got out of what I call a category.” 

“You appear to have escaped with life, sir,” observed 
Pindar, taking a cool survey of the other’s person. 

“ Yes, thank God, I have done that, and it is pretty much 
all,” answered the captain, wiping his face. “I served in 
the French war — Truxton’s war, as we call it — and I had a 
touch with the English in the privateer trade, between 
twelve and fifteen ; and here, quite lately, I was in an en- 
counter with the savage Arabs down on the coast of Africa ; 
and I account them all as so much snow-balling compared 
with the yard-arm and yard-arm work of this very night. 
I wonder if it is permitted to try a cigar at these conversa- 
tion onies, gentlemen ? ” 


90 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“I believe it is, sir,” returned Pindar, coolly. “Shall I 
help you to a light ? ” 

“Oh! Mr. Truck!” cried Mrs. Legend, following the 
chafed animal to his corner, as one would pursue any other 
runaway, “ instinct has brought you into this good com- 
pany. You are now in the very focus of American talents.” 

“ Having just escaped from the focus of American talons,” 
whispered Pith. 

“ I must be permitted to introduce you myself. Mr. 
Truck, Mr. Pindar — Mr. Pith — Mr. Gray ; gentlemen, you 
must be so happy to be acquainted, being, as it were, en- 
gaged in the same pursuits ! ” 

The captain rose and shook each of the gentlemen cor- 
dially by the hand, for he had, at least, the consolation of 
a great many introductions that night. Mrs. Legend dis- 
appeared to say something to some other prodigy. 

“ Happy to meet you, gentlemen,” said the captain. 
“In what trade do you sail ? ” 

“ By whatever name we may call it,” answered Mr. Pin- 
dar, “we can scarcely be said to go before the wind.” 

“ Not in the Injee business, then, or the monsoons would 
keep the stun’sails set, at least.” 

“No, sir. But yonder is Mr. Moccasin, who has lately 
set up secundum artem in the Indian business, having writ- 
ten two novels in that way already, and begun a third.” 

“Are you all regularly employed, gentlemen ?” 

“As regularly as inspiration points,” said Mr. Pith. 
“ Men of Our occupation must make fair weather of it, or 
we had better be doing nothing.” 

“ So I often tell my owners, but ‘go ahead’ is the order. 
When I was a youngster, a ship remained in port for a 
fair wind ; but now she goes to work and makes one, The 
world seems to get young, as I get old.” 

“This is a rum litterateur ,” Gray whispered to Pindar. 

“ It is an obvious mystification,” was the answer ; “ poor 
Mrs. Legend has picked np some straggling porpoise, and 
converted him, by a touch of her magical wand, into a 
Boanerges of literature. The thing is as clear as day, for 
the worthy fellow smells of tar and cigar smoke. I per- 
ceive that Mr. Effingham is laughing out of the corner of 
his eyes, and will step across the room and get the truth 
in a minute.” 


HOME AS FOUND. 


9 1 


The rogue was as good as his word, and was soon back 
again, and contrived to let his friends understand the real 
state of the case. A knowledge of the captain’s true char- 
acter encouraged this trio in the benevolent purpose of 
aiding the honest old seaman in his wish to smoke, and 
Pith managed to give him a lighted paper, without becom- 
ing an open accessory to the plot. 

“ Will you take a cigar yourself, sir?” said the captain, 
offering his box to Mr. Pindar. 

“ I thank you, Mr. Truck, I never smoke, but am a pro- 
found admirer of the flavor. Let me entreat you to begin 
as soon as possible.” 

Thus encouraged, Captain Truck drew two or three 
whiffs, when the rooms were immediately filled with the 
fragrance of a real Havana. At the first discovery, the 
whole literary pack went off on the scent. As for Mr. 
Fun, he managed to profit by the agitation that followed, 
in order to escape to the three wags in the corner, who 
were enjoying the scene with the gravity of so many 
dervishes. 

“ As I live,” cried Lucius Junius Brutus, “there is the 
author of a — a — -a — actually smoking a cigar ! How ex- 
cessively piquant ! ” 

“ Do my eyes deceive me, or is not that the writer of 
e — e — e — fumigating us all ! ” whispered Miss Annual. 

“ Nay, this cannot certainly be right,” put in Florio. 
with a dogmatical manner. “All the periodicals agree 
that smoking is ungenteel in England.” 

“ You never were more mistaken, dear Florio,” replied 
D. O. V. E. in a cooing tone. “The very last novel of 
society has a chapter in which the hero and heroine smoke 
in the declaration scene.” 

“ Do they, indeed! That alters the case. Really one 
would not wish to get behind so great a nation, nor yet go 
much before it. Pray, Captain Kant, what do your friends 
in Canada say ; is, or is not smoking permitted in good 
society there ? the Canadians must, at least, be ahead of 
us.” 

“ Not at all, sir,” returned the editor, in his softest tones ; 
“it is revolutionary and jacobinical.” 

But the ladies prevailed, and by a process that is rather 
peculiar to what may be called a “ credulous ” state of 


92 


HOME AS FOUND. 


society, they carried the day. This process was simply to 
make one fiction authority for another. The fact that 
smoking was now carried so far in England, that the clergy 
actually used cigars in pulpits, was affirmed on the author- 
ity of Mr. Truck himself, and coupled with his present oc- 
cupation, the point was deemed to be settled. Even Florio 
yielded, and his plastic mind soon saw a thousand beauties 
in the usage, that had hitherto escaped it. All the litterati 
drew round the captain in a circle, to enjoy the spectacle, 
though the honest old mariner contrived to throw out 
such volumes of vapor as to keep them at a safe distance. 
His four demure-looking neighbors got behind the barrier 
of smoke, where they deemed themselves entrenched 
against the assaults of sentimental petticoats, for a time 
at least. 

“ Pray, Mr. Truck,” inquired S. R. P., “ is it commonly 
thought in the English literary circles, that Byron was a 
development of Shakespeare, or Shakespeare a shadowing 
forth of Byron ? ” 

“Both, marm,” said the captain, with a coolness that 
would have done credit to Aristabulus, for he had been 
fairly badgered into impudence, profiting by the occasion 
to knock the ashes off his cigar ; “ all incline to the first 
opinion, and most to the last.” 

“What finesse!” murmured one. “How delicate!” 
whispered a Second. “ A dignified reserve ! ” ejaculated 
a third. “So English !” exclaimed Florio. 

“Do you think, Mr. Truck,” asked D. O. V. E., “that 
the profane songs of Little have more pathos than the 
sacred songs of Moore ; or that the sacred songs of Moore 
have more sentiment than the profane songs of Little ? ” 

“ A good deal of both, marm, and something to spare. 

I think there is little in one, and more in the other.” 

“ Pray, sir,” said J. R. P., “do you pronounce the name 
of Byron’s lady-love, Guy-kee-oh-/v, or Gwy-ky-o-/^ ? ” 

“ That depends on how the wind is. If on shore, I am 
apt to say ‘ oh-lee ; ’ and if off shore, ‘ oh-lie.’ ” 

“ That’s capital ! ” cried Florio, in an ecstasy of admira- 
tion. “ What man in this country could have said as crack 
a thing as that ? ” 

“ Indeed it is very witty,” added Miss Monthly— “what 
does it mean ? ” 


HOME AS FOUND. 


93 


“ Mean ! More than is seen or felt by common minds. 
Ah ! the English are truly a great nation ! How delight- 
fully he smokes ! ” 

“ I think he is much the most interesting man we have 
had out here,” observed Miss Annual, “since the last bust 
of Scott ! ” 

“Ask him, dear D. O. V. E.,” whispered Julietta, who 
was timid, from the circumstance of never having pub- 
lished, “which he thinks the most ecstatic feeling, hope 
or despair?” The question was put by the more ex- 
perienced lady, according to request, though she first said, 
in a hurried tone to her youthful sister — “ you can have 
felt but little, child, or you would know that it is despair, 
as a matter of course.” 

The honest captain, however, did not treat the matter so 
lightly, for he improved the opportunity to light a fresh 
cigar, throwing the still smoking stump into Mrs. Legend’s 
grate, through a lane of literati, as he afterward boasted, as 
coolly as he could have thrown it overboard, under other 
circumstances. Luckily for his reputation for sentiment, 
he mistook “ecstatic,” a word he had never heard before, 
for “erratic;” and recollecting sundry roving maniacs 
that he had seen, he answered promptly 

“ Despair, out and out.” 

“ I knew it,” said one. 

“ It’s in nature,” added a second. 

“ All can feel its truth,” rejoined a third. 

“ This point may now be set down as established,” cried 
Florio, “and I hope no more will be said about it.” 

“ This is encouragement to the searchers after truth,” put 
in Captain Kant. 

“Pray, Hon. and Rev. Mr. Truck,” asked Lucius Junius 
Brutus, at the joint suggestion of Junius Brutus and Bru- 
tus, “ does the Princess Victoria smoke ? ” 

“ If she did not, sir, where would be the use in being a 
princess ? I suppose you know that all the tobacco seized 
in England, after a deduction to informers, goes to the 
crown.” 

“I object to this dsage,” remarked Captain Kant, “as 
irreligious, French, and tending to sans-culotteism. I am 
willing to admit of this distinguished instance as an excep- 
tion ; but on all other grounds, I shall maintain that it 


94 


HOME AS FOUND. 


savors of infidelity to smoke. The Prussian government, 
much the best of our times, never smokes.” 

“This man thinks he has a monopoly of the puffing 
himself,” Pindar whispered into the captain’s ear ; “whiff 
away, my dear sir, and you’ll soon throw him into the 
shade.” 

The captain winked, drew out his box, lighted another 
cigar, and, by way of reply to the envious remark, he put 
one in each corner of his mouth, and soon had both in full 
blast, a state in which he kept them for near a minute. 

“This is the very picturesque of social enjoyment,” ex- 
claimed Florio, holding up both hands in a glow of rapt- 
ure. 

“ It is absolutely Homeric, in the way of usages ! Ah ! 
the English are a great nation ! ” 

“I should like to know excessively if there was really 
such a person as Baron Mun-chaw-sen ? ” said Julietta, 
gathering courage from the success of her last question. 

“ There was, Miss,” returned the captain, through his 
teeth, and nodding his head in the affirmative. “A reg- 
ular traveller, that ; and one who knew him well, swore to 
me that he hadn’t related one half of what befell him.” 

“ How very delightful to learn this from the highest 
quarter ! ” exclaimed Miss Monthly. 

“Is Gatty (Goethe) really dead?” inquired Longinus, 
“ or is the account we have had to that effect, merely a 
metaphysical, apotheosis of his mighty soul ? ” 

“ Dead, inarm — stone dead — dead as a door-nail,” re- 
turned the captain, who saw a relief in killing as many as 
possible. 

“You have been in France, Mr. Truck, beyond ques- 
tion?” observed Lucius Junius Brutus, in the way one 
puts a question. 

“ France ! I was in France before I was ten years old. 
I know every foot of the coast, from Havre de Grace to 
Marseilles.” 

“ Will you then have the goodness to explain to us 
whether the soul of Chat-to-bfi-ong is more expanded than 
his reason, or his reason more expanded than his soul ?” 

Captain Truck had a very tolerable notion of Baron 
Munchausen and of his particular merits ; but Chateau- 
briand was a writer of whom he knew nothing. After pon- 


HOME AS FOUND. 


95 


dering a moment, and feeling persuaded that a confession 
of ignorance might undo him ; for the old man had got to 
be influenced by the atmosphere of the place ; he an- 
swered coolly — 

“ Oh ! Chat-/0-bri-<?^, is it you mean ? As whole-souled 
a fellow as I know. All soul, sir, and lots of reason, be- 
sides.” 

How simple and unaffected ! ” 

“ Crack ! ” exclaimed Florio. 

“ A thorough Jacobin ! ” growled Captain Kant, who 
was always offended when any one but himself took liber- 
ties with the truth. 

Here the four wags in the corner observed that head 
went to head in the crowd, and that the rear rank of the 
company began to disappear, while Mrs. Legend was in 
evident distress. In a few minutes all the Romans were 
off ; Florio soon after vanished, grating his teeth in a poet- 
ical frenzy ; and even Captain Kant, albeit so used to look 
truth in the face, beat a retreat. The alphabet followed, 
and even the Annual and the Monthly retired, with leave- 
takings so solemn and precise, that poor Mrs. Legend was 
in total despair. 

Eve, foreseeing something unpleasant, had gone away 
first, and in a few minutes Mr. Dodge, w T ho had been very 
active in the crowd, whispering and gesticulating, made 
his bow also. The envy of this man had in fact become 
so intolerable, that he had let the cat out of the bag. 
No one now remained but the party entrenched behind 
the smoke, and the mistress of the house. Pindar 
solemnly proposed to the captain that they should go 
and enjoy an oyster supper in company ; and the pro- 
posal being cordially accepted, they rose in a body to take 
leave. 

“ A most delightful evening, Mrs. Legend,” said Pin- 
dar, with perfect truth, “ much the pleasantest I ever 
passed in a house where one passes so many that are 
agreeable.” 

“ I cannot properly express my thanks for the obliga- 
tion you have conferred by making me acquainted with 
Mr. Truck,” added Gray. “ I shall cultivate it as far as 
in my pow T er, for a more capital fellow never breathed.” 

“ Really, Mrs. Legend, this has been a Byronic night ! ” 


9 6 


HOME AS FOUND. 


observed Pith, as he made his bow. “ I shall long re- 
member it, and I think it deserves to be commemorated in 
verse.” 

Fun endeavored to look sympathetic and sentimental, 
though the spirit within could scarcely refrain from grin- 
ning in Mrs. Legend’s face. He stammered out a few 
compliments, however, and disappeared. 

“ Well, good-night, marm,” said Captain Truck, offer- 
ing his hand cordially. “This has been a very pleasant 
evening altogether, though it Avas warm AA^ork at first. If 
you like ships, I should be glad to show you the Mon- 
tauk’s cabins when we get back ; and if you ever think 
of Europe, let me recommend the London line as none of 
the worst. We’ll try to make you comfortable, and trust to 
me to choose a stateroom— a thing I am experienced in.” 

Not one of the wags laughed until they were fairly con- 
fronted with the oysters. Then, indeed, they burst out into 
a general and long fit of exuberant merriment, returning 
to it between the courses from the kitchen like the refrain 
of a song. Captain Truck, who was uncommonly well 
satisfied Avith himself, did not understand the meaning 
of all this boyishness, but he has often declared since 
that a heartier or a/ funnier set of fellows he never fell in 
Avith, than his four companions proved to be that night. 

As for the literary soiree, the most profound silence has 
been maintained concerning it, neither of the wits there 
assembled having seen fit to celebrate it in rhyme, 
and Florio having actually torn up an impromptu for 
the occasion, that he had been all the previous day 
writing. 


CHAPTER VII. 

“ There is a history in all men’s lives, 

Figuring the nature of the times deceased. 

The which observed, a man may prophesy 
With a near aim, of the main chance of things, 

As yet not come to life.” 

King Henry VI. 

The following morning the baronet breakfasted in Hud- 
son Square. While at the table, little was said concerning 
the events of the past night, though sundry smiles were 


HOME AS FOUND. 


97 


exchanged, as eye met eye, and the recollection of the 
mystification returned. Grace alone looked grave ; for 
she had been accustomed to consider Mrs. Legend a very 
discriminating person, and she had even hoped that most 
of those who usually figured in her rooms were really the 
clever persons they laid claim to be. 

The morning was devoted to looking at the quarter of 
the town which is devoted to business, a party having 
been made for that express purpose under the auspices of 
John Effingham. As the weather was very cold, although 
the distances were not great, the carriages were ordered, 
and they all set off about noon. 

Grace had given up expecting a look of admiration from 
Eve in behalf of any of the lions of New York, her cousin 
having found it necessary to tell her, that, in a compara- 
tive sense at least, little was to be said in behalf of these 
provincial wonders. Even Mademoiselle Viefville, now 
that the freshness of her feelings was abated, had dropped 
quietly down into a natural way of speaking of these 
things ; and Grace,, who was quick-witted, soon dis- 
covered that when she did make any allusions to similar 
objects in Europe, it was always to those that existed in 
some country town. A silent convention existed, there- 
fore, to speak no more on such subjects ; or if anything 
was said, it arose incidentally and as inseparable from the 
regular thread of the discourse. 

When in Wall Street, the carriages stopped and the gen- 
tlemen alighted. The severity of the weather kept the 
ladies in the chariot, where Grace endeavored to explain 
things as well as she could to her companions. 

“ What are all these people running after so intently?” 
inquired Mademoiselle Viefville, the conversation being 
in French, but which we shall render freely into English, 
for the sake of the general reader. 

“ Dollars, I believe, mademoiselle. Am I right, Grace ? ” 

“ I believe you are,” returned Grace, laughing, “though 
I know little more of this part of the town than yourself.” 

“ Quelle foule ! Is that building filled with dollars, into 
which the gentlemen are now entering ? Its steps are 
crowded.” 

“That is the Bourse , mademoiselle, and it ought to be 
well lined, by the manner in which some who frequent it 

7 


9 8 


HOME AS FOUND. 


live. Cousin Jack and Sir George are going into the 
crowd, I see.” 

We will leave the ladies in their seats a few minutes, 
and accompany the gentlemen on their way into the ex- 
change. 

“ I shall now show you, Sir George Templemore,” 
said John Effingham, “what is peculiar to this country, 
and what, if properly improved, it is truly worth a jour- 
ney across the ocean to see. You have been at the Royal 
Exchange in London, and at the Bourse of Paris, but you 
have never witnessed a scene like that which I am about 
to introduqe you to. In Paris, you have beheld the un- 
pleasant spectacle of women gambling publicly in the 
funds ; but it was in driblets, compared to what you will 
see here.” 

While speaking, John Effingham led the way up stairs 
into the office of one of the most considerable auctioneers. 
The walls were lined with maps, some representing houses, 
some lots, some streets, some entire towns. 

“ This is the focus of what Aristabulus Bragg calls the 
town trade,” said John Effingham, when fairly confronted 
with all these winders. “Here, then, you may suit your- 
self with any species of real estate that heart can desire. 
If a villa is wanted, there are a dozen. Of farms a hun- 
dred are in market ; that is merely half a dozen streets; 
and here are towns, of dimensions and value to suit pur- 
chasers.” 

“ Explain this. It exceeds comprehension.” 

“ It is simply what it professes to be. Mr. Hammer, 
do us the favor to step this way. Are you selling to-day ?” 

“ Not much, sir. Only a hundred or two lots on this 
island, and some six or eight farms, with one western 
village.” 

“ Can you tell us the history of this particular piece of 
property, Mr. Hammer?” 

“ With great pleasure, Mr. Effingham ; we know you to 
have means, and hope you may be induced to purchase. 
This was the farm of old Volkert Van Brunt, five years 
since, off of which he and his family had made a livelihood 
for more than a century, by selling milk. Two years 
since,, the sons sold it to Peter Feeler for a hundred an 
acre, or for the total sum of five thousand dollars. The 


HOME AS FOUND. 


99 


next spring Mr. Feeler sold it to John Search, as keen a 
one as vve have, for twenty-five thousand. Search sold it 
at private sale to Nathan Rise for fifty thousand the next 
week, and Rise had parted with it to a company, before 
the purchase, for a hundred and twelve thousand, cash. 
The map ought to be taken down — for it is now eight 
months since we sold it out in lots, at auction, for "the 
gross sum of three hundred thousand dollars. As we 
have received our commission, we look at that land as out 
of the market for a time.” 

“ Have you other property, sir, that affords the same 
wonderful history of a rapid advance in value ? ” asked the 
baronet. 

“These walls are covered with maps of estates in the 
same predicament. Some have risen two or three thou- 
sand per cent, within five years, and some only a few hun- 
dred. There is no calculating in the matter — for it is all 
fancy.” 

‘*And on what is this enormous increase in value 
founded ? ” Does the town extend to these fields ? ” 

“ It goes much further, sir ; that is to say, on paper. In 
the way of houses, it is still some miles short of them. A 
good deal depends on what you call a thing, in this 
market. Now, if old Volkert Van Brunt’s property had 
been still called a farm, it would have brought a farm 
price ; but, as soon as it was surveyed into lots, and 
mapped- ” 

“ Mapped ! ” 

“Yes, sir; brought into visible lines, with feet and 
inches. As soon as it was properly mapped, it rose to its 
just value. We have a good deal of the bottom of the sea 
that brings fair prices in consequence of being well 
mapped.” 

Here the .gentlemen expressed their sense of the auc- 
tioneer’s politeness, and retired. 

“We will now go into the salesroom,” said John Effing- 
ham, “ where you shall judge of the spirit, or energy, as it 
is termed, which at this moment actuates this great 
nation.” 

Descending, they entered a crowd, where scores were 
eagerly bidding against each other, in the fearful delusion 
of "growing rich by pushing a fancied value to a point still 


IOO 


HOME AS EO UNIX 


higher. One was purchasing ragged rocks, another the 
bottom of rivers, a third a bog, and all on the credit of 
maps. Our two observers remained some time silent spec- 
tators of the scene. 

“When I first entered that room,” said John Effingham, 
as they left the place, “ it appeared to me to be filled with 
maniacs. Now, that I have been in it several times the 
impression is not much altered.” 

“And all those persons are hazarding their means of 
subsistence on the imaginary estimate mentioned by the 
auctioneer ?” 

“ They are gambling as recklessly as he who places his 
substance on the cast of the die. So completely has the 
mania seized every one, that the obvious truth — a truth 
which is as apparent as any other law of nature — that 
nothing can be sustained without a foundation, is com- 
pletely overlooked, and he who should now proclaim, in 
this building, principles that bitter experience will cause 
every man to feel within the next few years, would be 
happy if he escaped being stoned. I have witnessed 
many similar excesses in the way of speculation ; but 
never an instance as gross, as widespread, and as alarming 
as this.” 

“You apprehend serious consequences, then, from the 
reaction ? ” 

“ In that particular we are better off than older nations, 
the youth and real stamina of the country averting much 
of the danger ; but I anticipate a terrible blow, and that 
the day is not remote when this town will awake to a 
sense of its illusion. What you see here, is but a small 
part of the extravagance that exists ; for it pervades the 
whole community in one shape or another. Extravagant 
issues of paper money, inconsiderate credits that com- 
mence in Europe and extend throughout the land, and 
false notions as to the value of their possessions, in men 
who five years since had nothing, has completely destroyed 
the usual balance of things, and money has got to be so 
completely the end of life, that few think of it as a means. 
The history of the world, probably, cannot furnish a 
parallel instance of an extensive country that is so abso- 
lutely under this malign influence, as is the fact with our 
own at this present instant. All principles are swallowed 


HOME AS FOUND. 


IOI 


up in the absorbing desire for gain — national honor, per- 
manent security, the ordinary rules of society, law, the 
constitution, and everything that is usually so dear to men, 
are forgotten, or are perverted in order to sustain this un- 
natural condition of things.” 

“ This is not only extraordinary, but it is fearful ! ” 

‘‘It is both. The entire community is in the situation 
of a man who is in the incipient stages of an exhilarating 
intoxication, and who keeps pouring down glass after 
glass, in the idle notion that he is merely sustaining nature 
in her ordinary functions. This widespread infatuation 
extends from the coast to the extremest frontiers of the 
West ; for while there is a justifiable foundation for a 
good deal of this fancied prosperity, the true is so inter- 
woven with the false, that none but the most observant 
can draw the distinction, and, as usual, the false predomi- 
nates.” 

“ By your account, sir, the tulip mania of Holland was 
trifling compared to this ! ” 

“ That was the same in principle as our own, but insig- 
nificant in extent. Could I lead you through these 
streets, and let you into the secret of the interests, hopes, 
infatuations, and follies that prevail in the human breast, 
you, as a calm spectator, would be astonished at the 
mannei^in which your own species can be deluded. But 
let us move, and something may still occur to ‘offer an 
example:” 

“Mr. Effingham — I beg pardon — Mr. Effingham,” said a 
very gentlemanly-looking merchant, who was walking 
about the hall of the Exchange, “what do you think now 
of our French quarrel ? ” 

“ I have told you, Mr. Bale, all I have to say on that 
subject. When in France, I wrote you that it was not the 
intention of the French government to comply with the 
treaty. You have seen this opinion justified in the result, 
you have the declaration of the French minister of state, 
that without an apology from this government, the money 
will not be paid ; and I have given it as my opinion, that 
the vane on yonder steeple will not turn more readily than 
all this policy will be abandoned, should anything occur in 
Europe to render it necessary, or could the French minis- 
try believe it possible for this country to fight for a prin- 


102 


HOME AS FOUND. 


ciple. These are my opinions, in all their phases, and 
you may compare them with the facts and judge for your- 
self. 

“ It is all General Jackson, sir — all that monster’s do- 
ings. But for his message, Mr. Effingham, we should 
have had the money long ago.” 

“ But for his message, or some equally decided step, Mr. 
Bale, you would never have it.” 

“Ah, my dear sir, I know your intentions, but I fear 
you are prejudiced against that excellent man, the King 
of France ! Prejudice, Mr. Effingham, is a sad innovator 
on justice.” 

Here Mr. Bale shook his head, laughed, and disappeared 
in the crowd, perfectly satisfied that John Effingham was 
a prejudiced man, and that he himself was only liberal and 
just. 

“ Now, that is a man who wants for neither abilities nor 
honesty, and yet he permits his interests, and the influence 
of this very speculating mania, to overshadow all his sense 
of right, facts plain as noonday, and the only principles 
that can rule a country in safety.” 

“ He apprehends war, and has no desire to believe even 
facts, so long as they serve to increase the danger.” 

“ Precisely, so ; for even prudence gets to be a perverted 
quality when men are living under an infatuation like that 
which now exists. These men live like the fool who says 
there is no death.” 

Here the gentlemen rejoined the ladies, and the car- 
riages drove through a succession of narrow and crooked 
streets that were lined with warehouses filled with the pro- 
ducts of the civilized world. 

“ Very much of all this is a part of the same lamentable 
illusion,” said John Effingham, as the carriages made their 
way slowly through the encumbered streets. “The man 
who sells his inland lots at a profit, secured by credit, fan- 
cies himself enriched, and he extends his manner of living 
in proportion. The boy from the country becomes a mer- 
chant — or what is here called a merchant — and obtains a 
credit in Europe a hundred times exceeding his means, 
and caters to these fancied wants ; and thus is every ave- 
nue of society thronged with adventurers, the ephemera 
of the same widespread spirit of reckless folly. Millions 


HOME AS FOUND. 


103 

in value pass out of these streets, that go to feed the vanity 
of those who fancy themselves wealthy, because they hold 
some ideal pledges for the payment of advances in" price 
like those mentioned by the auctioneer, and which have 
some such security for the eventual payment, as one can 
find in calling a thing that is really worth a dollar, worth 
a hundred.” 

“ Are the effects of this state of things apparent in your 
ordinary associations ? ” 

“In everything. The desire to grow suddenly rich has 
seized on all classes. Even women and clergymen are 
infected, and we exist under the active control of the most 
corrupting of all influences, * the love of money.’ I should 
despair of the country altogether, did I not feel certain 
that the disease is too violent to last, and entertain a hope 
that the season of calm reflection and of repentance — that 
is to follow — will be in proportion to its causes.” 

After taking this view of the town, the party returned 
to Hudson Square, where the baronet dined, it being his 
intention to go to Washington on the following day. The 
leave-taking in the evening was kind and friendly ; Mr. 
Effingham, who had a sincere regard for his late fellow- 
traveller, cordially inviting him to visit him'in the moun- 
tains in June. 

As Sir George took his leave, the bells began to ring for 
a fire. In New York one gets so accustomed to these 
alarms, that near an hour had passed before any of the 
Effingham family began to reflect on the long continuance 
of the cries. A servant was then sent out to ascertain the 
reason, and his report made the matter more serious than 
usual. 

We believe that in the frequency of these calamities the 
question lies between Constantinople and New York. It 
is a common occurrence for twenty or thirty buildings to 
be burnt down in the latter place, and for the residents of 
the same ward to remain in ignorance of the circumstance, 
until enlightened on the fact by the daily prints ; the con- 
stant repetition of the alarms hardening the ear and the 
feelings against the appeal. A fire of greater extent than 
common had occurred only a night or two previously to 
this ; and a rumor now prevailed that the severity of the 
weather, and the condition of the hose and engines, ren- 


104 


HOME AS FOUND. 


dered the present danger double. On hearing this intelli- 
gence, the Messrs. Effingham wrapped themselves up in 
their overcoats, and went together into the streets. 

“ This seems something more than usual, Ned,” said John 
Effingham, glancing his eye upward at the lurid vault, 
athwart which gleams of fiery light began to shine ; “the 
danger is not distant, and it seems serious.” 

Following the direction of the current, they soon found 
the scene of the conflagration, which was in the very heart 
of those masses of warehouses, or stores, that John Effing- 
ham had commented on so lately. A short street of high 
buildings was already completely in flames, and the danger 
of approaching the enemy, added to the frozen condition 
of the apparatus, the exhaustion of the firemen from their 
previous efforts, and the intense coldness of the night, con- 
spired to make the aspect of things in the highest degree 
alarming. 

The firemen of New York have that superiority over 
those of other places that the veteran soldier obtains over 
the recruit. But the best troops can be appalled, and on 
this memorable occasion these celebrated firemen, from a 
variety of causes, became for a time little more than pas- 
sive spectators of the terrible scene. 

There was an hour or two when all attempts at checking 
the conflagration seemed really hopeless, and even the 
boldest and the most persevering scarcely knew which way 
to turn, to be useful. A failure of water, the numerous 
points that required resistance, the conflagration extending 
in all directions from a common centre, by means of num- 
berless irregular and narrow streets, and the impossibility 
of withstanding the intense heat in the choked passages, 
soon added despair to the other horrors of the scene. 

They who stood near the fiery masses were freezing on 
one side with the Greenland cold of the night, while their 
bodies were almost blistered with the fierce flames on the 
other. There was something frightful in this contest of 
the elements, nature appearing to condense the heat within 
its narrowest possible limits, as if purposely to increase its 
fierceness. The effects were awful ; for entire buildings 
would seem to dissolve at their touch, as the forked flames 
enveloped them in sheets of fire. 

Every one being afoot, within sound of alarm, though all 


HOME AS FOUND. 


K>5 

the more vulgar cries had ceased, as men would deem it 
mockery to cry murder in a battle, Sir George Templemore 
met iiis friends on the margin of this sea of fire. It was 
now drawing toward morning, and the conflagration was 
at its height, having already laid waste a nucleus of blocks, 
and it was extending by many lines in every possible di- 
rection. 

“ Here is a fearful admonition for those who set their 
hearts on riches,” observed Sir George Templemore, re- 
calling the conversation of the previous day. “What, in- 
deed, are the designs of man, as compared with the will 
of Providence ! ” 

“ I foresee that this is le commencement de la fin,” returned 
John Effingham. “ The destruction is already so great as 
to threaten to bring down with it the usual safeguards 
against such losses, and one pin knocked out of so frail and 
delicate a fabric, the whole will become loose, and fall to 
pieces.” 

“ Will nothing be done to arrest the flames ? ” 

“ As men recover from the panic, their plans will im- 
prove and their energies will revive. The wider streets are 
already reducing the fire within more certain limits, and 
they speak of a favorable change of wind. It is thought 
five hundred buildings have already been consumed, in 
scarcely half a dozen hours.” 

That Exchange, which had so lately resembled a bustling 
temple of Mammon, was already a dark and sheeted ruin, 
its marble walls being cracked, defaced, tottering, or fallen. 
It lay on the confines of the ruin, and our party was enabled 
to take their position near it, to observe the scene. All in 
their immediate vicinity was assuming the stillness of deso- 
lation, while the flashes of fierce light in the distance 
marked the progress of the conflagration. Those who knew 
the localities, now” began to speak of the natural or acci- 
dental barriers, sudh as the water, the slips, and the broader 
streets, as the only probable means of arresting the destruc- 
tion. The crackling of the flames grew distant fast, and 
the cries of the firemen were now scarcely audible. 

At this period in the frightful scene, a party of seamen 
arrived, bearing powder, in readiness to blow up various 
buildings, in the streets that possessed of themselves no 
sufficient barriers to the advance of the flame. I^ed by 


io6 


HOME AS FOUND. 


their officers, these gallant fellows, carrying in their arms 
the means of destruction, moved up steadily to the verge 
of the torrents of fire, and planted their kegs ; laying their 
trains with the hardy indifference that practice can alone 
create, and with an intelligence that did infinite credit to 
their coolness. This deliberate courage was rewarded with 
complete success, and house crumbled to pieces after 
house, under the dull explosions, happily without an acci- 
dent. 

From this time the flames became less ungovernable, 
though the day dawned and advanced, and another night 
succeeded, before they could be said to be got fairly under. 
Weeks, and even months passed, however, ere the smoulder- 
ing ruins ceased to send up smoke, the fierce element con- 
tinuing to burn, like a slumbering volcano, as it might be 
in the bowels of the earth. 

The day that succeeded this disaster was memorable for 
the rebuke it gave the rapacious longing for wealth. Men 
who had set their hearts on gold, and who prided them- 
selves on their possessions, and on that only, were made to 
feel its inanity ; and they who had walked abroad as gods 
so lately, began to experience how utterly insignificant 
are the merely rich, when stripped of their possessions. 
Eight hundred buildings, containing fabrics of every kind, 
and the raw material in various forms, had been destroyed, 
as it were in the twinkling of an eye. 

A faint voice was heard from the pulpit, and there was a 
moment when those who remembered a better state of 
things began to fancy that principles would once more 
assert their ascendancy, and that the community would, in 
a measure, be purified. But this expectation ended in dis- 
appointment, the infatuation being too widespread and 
corrupting to be stopped by even this check, and the re- 
buke was reserved for a form that seems to depend on a 
law of nature, that of causing a vice to bring with it its 
own infallible punishment. 


HOME AS FOUND. 


107 


CHAPTER VIII. 


“ First, tell me, have you been at Pisa ? ” 

Shakespeare. 

The conflagration alluded to rather than described in 
the preceding chapter, threw a gloom over the gayeties of 
New York — if that ever could be properly called gay which 
was little more than a strife in prodigality and parade— and 
leaves us little more to say of the events of the winter. 
Eve regretted very little the interruption to scenes in which 
she had found no pleasure, however much she lamented 
the cause ; and she and Grace passed the remainder of the 
season quietly cultivating the friendship of such women as 
Mrs. Hawker and Mrs. Bloomfield, and devoting hours to 
the improvement of their minds and tastes, without ever 
again venturing, however, within the hallowed precincts 
of such rooms as those of Mrs. Legend. 

One consequence of a state of rapacious infatuation like 
that we have just related, is the intensity of selfishness 
which smothers all recollection of the past, and all just 
anticipations of the future, by condensing life, with its 
motives and enjoyments, into the present moment. Cap- 
tain Truck, therefore, was soon forgotten, and the literati, 
as that worthy seaman had termed the associates of Mrs. 
Legend, remained just as vapid, as conceited, as ignorant, 
as imitative, as dependent, and as provincial as ever. 

As the season advanced, our heroine began to look with 
longings toward the country. The town life of an Amer- 
ican offers little to one accustomed to a town life in older 
and more permanently regulated communities ; and Eve 
was already heartily weary of crowded and noisy balls (for 
a few were still given), belles, the struggles of an un in- 
structed taste, and a representation in which extravagance 
was so seldom relieved by the elegance and convenience 
of a condition of society in which more attention is paid 
to the fitness of things. 

The American spring is the least pleasant of its four 
seasons, its character being truly that of “ winter lingering 


io8 


HOME AS FOUND . 


in the lap of May.” Mr. Effingham, who the reader will 
probably suspect by this time to be a descendant of a fam- 
ily of the same name that we have had occasion to intro- 
duce into another work, had*sent orders to have his coun- 
try residence prepared for the reception of our party ; and 
it was with a feeling of delight that Eve stepped on board 
a steamboat to escape from a town that, While it contained 
so much that is worthy of any capital, contains so much 
more that is unfit for any place, in order to breathe the pure 
air and enjoy the tranquil pleasure of the country. Sir 
George Templemore had returned from his southern jour- 
ney, and made one of the party by express arrangement. 

“Now, Eve,” said Grace Van Cortlandt, as the boat 
glided along the wharves, “ if it were any person but you, 
I should feel confident of having something to show that 
would extort admiration.” 

“ You are safe enough in that respect, for a more impos- 
ing object, in its way, than this very vessel, eye of mine 
never beheld. It is positively the only thing that deserves 
the name of magnificent I have yet seen since our return 
— unless, indeed, it may be magnificent projects.” 

“ I am glad, dear coz, there is this one magnificent ob- 
ject, then, to satisfy a taste so fastidious.” 

As Grace’s little foot moved, and her voice betrayed 
vexation, the whole party smiled ; for the whole party, 
while it felt the justice of Eve’s observation, saw the real 
feeling that was at the bottom of her cousin’s remark. Sir 
George, however, though he could not conceal from him- 
self the truth of what had been said by the one party, and 
the weakness betrayed by the other, had too much sym- 
pathy for the provincial patriotism of one so young and 
beautiful, not to come to the rescue. 

“You should remember, Miss Van Cortlandt,” he said, 
“ that Miss Effingham has not had the advantage yet of 
seeing the Delaware, Philadelphia, the noble bays of the 
South, nor so much that is to be found out of the single 
town of New York.” 

“ Very true, and I hope yet to see her a sincere penitent 
for all her unpatriotic admissions against her own country. 
You have seen the Capitol, Sir George Templemore ; is it 
not truly one of the finest edifices of the world ? ” 

“ You will except St. Peter’s, surely, my child,” observed 


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109 


Mr. Effingham, smiling, for he saw that the baronet was 
embarras*sed to give a ready answer. 

‘‘And the Cathedral at Milan,” said Eve laughing. 

“ Et le Louvre / ” cried Mademoiselle Viefville, who had 
some such admiration for everything Parisian, as Eve had 
for everything American. 

“ And most especially the northeast corner of the south- 
west end of the northwest wing of Versailles,” said John 
Effingham, in his usual dry manner. 

“ I see you are all against me,” Grace rejoined, “but I 
hope one day to be able to ascertain for myself the compar- 
ative merits of things. As Nature makes rivers, I hope 
the Hudson, at least, will not be found unworthy of your 
admiration, gentlemen and ladies.” 

“You are safe enough there, Grace,” observed Mr. 
Effingham ; “ for few rivers, perhaps no river, offer so 
great and so pleasing a variety in so short a distance as 
this.” 

It was a lovely, bland morning in the last week of May ; 
and the atmosphere was already getting the soft hues of 
summer, or assuming the hazy and solemn calm that ren- 
ders the season so quiet and soothing after the fiercer strife 
of the elements. Under such a sky, the Palisadoes in par- 
ticular looked well ; for though wanting in the terrific 
grandeur of an Alpine nature, and perhaps disproportioned 
to the scenery they adorned, they were bold and peculiar. 

The great velocity of the boat added to the charm of the 
passage, the scene scarce finding time to pall on the eye ; 
for no sooner was one object examined in its outlines, than 
it was succeeded by another. 

“ An extraordinary taste is afflicting this country in the 
way of architecture,” said Mr. Effingham, as they stood 
gazing at the eastern shore ; “ nothing but a Grecian tem- 
ple being now deemed a' suitable residence for a man in 
these classical times. Yonder is a structure, for instance, 
of beautiful proportions, and at this distance apparently of 
precious material, and yet it seems better suited to heathen 
worship than to domestic comfort.” 

“The malady has affected the whole nation,” returned 
his cousin, •“ like the spirit of speculation. We are pass- 
ing from one extreme to the other, in this as in other 
things. One such temple well placed in a wood, might be 


no 


HOME AS FOUND. 


a pleasant object enough ; but to see a river lined with 
them, with children trundling hoops before their doors, 
beef carried into their kitchens, and smoke issuing, more- 
over, from those unclassical objects, chimneys, is too much 
even for a high taste ; one might as well live in a fever. 
Mr. Aristabulus Bragg, who is a wag in his way, informs 
me that there is one town in the interior that has actually 
a market-house on the plan of the Parthenon ! ” 

“ II Capo di Bovo would be a more suitable model for 
such a structure,” said Eve, smiling. “ But I think I have 
heard that the classical taste of our architects is anything 
but rigid.” 

“This was the case, rather than, is,” returned John 
Effingham, “ as witness all these temples. The country 
has made a quick and a great pas en avant , in the way of 
the fine arts, and the fact shows what might be done with 
so ready a people under a suitable direction. The stranger 
who comes among us is apt to hold the art of the nation 
cheap, but as all things are comparative, let him inquire 
into its state ten years since, and look at it to-day. The 
fault just now is perhaps to consult the books too rigidly, 
and to trust too little to invention ; for no architecture, 
and especially no domestic architecture, can ever be above 
serious reproach, until climate, the uses of the edifice, and 
the situation, are respected as leading considerations. 
Nothing can be uglier, per se , than a Swiss cottage, or any- 
thing more beautiful under its precise circumstances. As 
regards these mushroom temples which are the offspring 
of Mammon, let them be dedicated to whom they may, I 
should exactly reverse the opinion and say, that while 
nothing can be much more beautiful, se, nothing can be 
in worse taste than to put them where they are.” 

“We shall have an opportunity of seeing what Mr. John 
Effingham can do in the way of architecture,” said Grace, 
who loved to revenge some of her fancied wrongs, by turn- 
ing the tables on her assailant, “fori understand he has 
been improving on the original labors of that notorious 
Palladio, Master Hiram Doolittle ! ” 

The whole party laughed, and every eye was turned on 
the gentleman alluded to, expecting his answer. 

“You will remember, good people,” answered the ac- 
cused by implication, “ that my plans were handed over to 


HOME AS FOUND . 


hi 


me from my great predecessor, and that they were origi- 
nally of the composite order. If, therefore, the house 
should turn out to be a little complex and mixed, you will 
do me the justice to remember this important fact. At 
all events, I have consulted comfort ; and that, I would 
maintain, in the face of Vitruvius himself, is a sine qua, non 
in domestic architecture.” 

“ I took a run into Connecticut the other day,” said Sir 
George Templemore, “and, at a place called New Haven, 
I saw the commencement of a taste that bids fair to make 
a most remarkable town. It is true, you cannot expect 
structures of much pretension in the way of cost and mag- 
nitude in this country, but, so far as fitness and forms are 
concerned, if what I hear be true, and the next fifty years 
do as much in proportion for that little city, as I under- 
stand has been done in the last five, it will be altogether a 
wonder in its way. There are some abortions, it is true, 
but there are also some little jewels.” 

The baronet was rewarded for this opinion by a smile 
from Grace, and the conversation changed, j As the boat 
approached the mountains, Eve became excited — a very 
American state of the system, bv the way — and Grace still 
more anxious. 

“ The view of that bluff is Italian,” said our heroine, 
pointing down the river at a noble headland of rock, that 
loomed grandly in the soft haze of the tranquil atmosphere. 
“ One seldom sees a finer or a softer outline on the 
shores of the Mediterranean itself.” 

“ But the Highlands, Eve !” whispered the uneasy Grace. 
“We are entering the mountains.” 

The river narrowed suddenly, and the scenery became 
bolder, but neither Eve nor her father expressed the rapt- 
ure that Grace expected. 

“ I must confess, Jack,” said the mild, thoughtful Mr. 
Effingham, “ that these rocks strike my eyes as much less 
imposing than formerly. The passage is fine, beyond 
question, but it is hardly grand scenery.” 

“ You never uttered a juster opinion, Ned, though after 
your eye loses some of the forms of the Swiss and Italian 
lakes, and of the shores of Italy, you will think better of 
these. The Highlands are remarkable for their surprises, 
rather than for" their grandeur, as we shall presently see. 


1 12 


HOME AS FOUND. 


As to the latter, it is an affair of feet and inches, and is 
capable of arithmetical demonstration. We have often 
been on lakes, beneath beetling cliffs of from three to six 
thousand feet in height ; whereas, here, the greatest ele- 
vation is materially less than two. But, Sir George Tem- 
plemore, and you, Miss Effingham, do me the favor to 
combine your cunning, and tell me whence this stream 
cometh, and whither we are to go ? ” 

The boat had now approached a point where the river 
was narrowed to a width not much exceeding a quarter of 
a mile, and in that direction in which it was steering, the 
water seemed to become still more contracted until they 
were lost in a sort of bay, that appeared to be closed by 
high hills, through which, however, there were traces of 
something like a passage. 

“ The land in that direction looks as if it had a ravine- 
like entrance.” said the baronet ; and yet it is scarcely 
possible that a stream like this can flow there ! ” 

“ If the Hudson truly passes through those mountains,” 
said Eve, “ I will concede all in its favor that you can ask, 
Grace.” 

“ Where else can it pass ? ” demanded Grace exult- 
ingly. 

“ Sure enough — I see no other place, and that seems in- 
sufficient.” 

The two strangers to the river now looked curiously 
around them in every direction. Behind them was a broad 
and lake-like basin, through which they had just passed ; 
on the left, a barrier of precipitous hills, the elevation of 
which was scarcely less than a thousand feet ; on their 
right, a high but broken country, studded with villas, farm- 
houses, and hamlets ; and in their front the deep but equiv- 
ocal bay mentioned. 

“I see no escape !” cried the baronet gayly, “ unless in- 
deed it be by returning.” 

A sudden and broad sheer of the boat caused it to turn 
to the left, and then they whirled round an angle of the 
precipice, and found themselves in a reach of the river be- 
tween steep declivities, running at right angles to their 
former course. 

“This is one of the surprises of which I spoke,” said 
John Effingham, “and which render the Highlands so 


HOME AS FOUND. 


IT 3 


unique ; for, while the Rhine is very sinuous, it has nothing 1 
like this.” 

The other travellers agreed in extolling this and many 
similar features of the scenery, and Grace was delighted ; 
for, warm-hearted, affectionate, and true, Grace loved her 
country like a relative or a friend, and took an honest pride 
in hearing its praises. The patriotism of Eve, if a word of 
a meaning so lofty can be applied to feelings of this nature, 
was more discriminating from necessity, her tastes having 
been formed in a higher school, and her means of com- 
parison being so much more ample. At West Point they 
stopped for the night, and here everybody was in honest 
raptures ; Grace, who had often visited the place before, 
being actually the least so of the whole party. 

“ Now, Eve, I know that you do love your country,” she 
said, as she slipped an arm affectionately through that of 
her cousin. “ This is feeling and speaking like an Ameri- 
can girl, and as Eve Effingham should ! ” 

Eve laughed, but she had discovered that the provincial 
feeling was so strong in Grace, that its discussion would 
probably do no good. She dwelt, therefore, with sincere 
eloquence on the beauties of the place, and for the first 
time since they had met, her cousin felt as if there was no 
longer any point of dissension between them. 

The following morning was the first of June, and it was 
another of those drowsy, dreamy days that so much aid a 
landscape. The party embarked in the first boat that came 
up, and as they entered Newburg Bay, the triumph of the 
river was established. This is a spot, in sooth, that has 
few equals in any region, though Eve still insisted that the 
excellence of the view was in its softness rather than in its 
grandeur. The country-houses, or boxes, for few could 
claim to be much more, were neat, well placed, and ex- 
ceedingly numerous. The heights around the town of 
Newburg, in particular, were fairly dotted with them, 
though Mr. Effingham shook his head as he saw one 
Grecian temple appear after another. 

“As we recede from the influence of the vulgar archi- 
tects,” he said, “we find imitation taking the place of in- 
struction. Many of these buildings are obviously dispro- 
portioned, and then, like vulgar pretension of any sort, Gre- 
cian architecture produces less pleasure than even Dutch.” 

8 


HOME AS FOUND. 


fi4 


“ I am surprised at discovering how little of a Dutch 
character remains in this State,” said the baronet ; “ I can 
scarcely trace that people in anything, and yet, I believe, 
they had the moulding of your society, having carried the 
colony through its infancy.” 

“When you know us better you will be surprised at dis- 
covering how little of anything remains a dozen years,” 
returned John Effingham. “ Our towns pass away in gen- 
erations like their people, and even the names of a place 
undergo periodical mutations, as well as everything else. 
It is getting to be a predominant feeling in the American 
nature, I fear, to love change.” 

“ But, cousin Jack, do you not overlook causes, in your 
censure ? That a nation advancing as fast as this in wealth 
and numbers, should desire better structures than its 
fathers had either the means or the taste to build, and that 
names should change with persons, are both quite in 
rule.” 

“ All very true, though it does not account for the pecu- 
liarity I mean. Take Templeton, for instance ; this little 
place has not essentially increased in numbers within my 
memory, and yet fully one half its names are new. When 
he reaches his own home, your father will not know even 
the names of one-half his neighbors. Not only will he 
meet with new faces, but he will find new feelings, new 
opinions in the place of traditions that he may love, an 
indifference to everything but tfie present moment, and 
even those who may have better feelings, and a wish to 
cherish all that belongs to the holier sentiments of man, 
afraid to utter them, lest they meet with no sympathy.” 

“No cats, as Mr. Bragg would say.” 

“ Jack is one who never paints en bean" said Mr. Effing- 
ham. “ I should be very sorry to believe that a dozen 
short years can have made all these essential changes in 
my neighborhood.” 

“A dozen years, Ned ! You name an age. Speak of 
three or four, if you wish to find anything in America 
where you left it ! The whole country is in such a con- 
stant state of mutation, that I can only liken it to the game 
of children, in which, as one quits his corner, another runs' 
into it, and he that finds no corner to get into, is the laugh- 
ingstock of the others. Fancy that dwelling the residence 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“5 


of one man from childhood to old age ; let him then quit it 
for a year or two, and on his return he would find another 
in possession, who would treat him as an impertinent in- 
truder, because he had been absent two years. An Amer- 
ican ‘ always,’ in the way of usages, extends no further 
back than eighteen months. In short, everything is con- 
densed into the present moment ; and services, character, 
for evil as well as good unhappily, and all other things cease 
to have weight, except as they influence the interests of 
the day.” 

“ This is the coloring of a professed cynic,” observed 
Mr. Effingham, smiling. 

“But the law, Mr. John Effingham,” eagerly inquired 
the baronet — “surely the law would not permit a stranger 
to intrude in this manner on the rights of an owner.” 

“ The law-books would do him that friendly office, per- 
haps, but what is a precept in the face of practices so 
ruthless ! ‘ Les absents out toujour s tort ,’ is a maxim of pecu- 

liar application in America.” 

“ Property is as secure in this country as in any other, 
Sir George ; and you will make allowances for the humors 
of the present annotator.” 

“Well, well, Ned; I hope you will find everything 
couleur de rose , as you appear to expect. You will get 
quiet possession of your house, it is true ; for I have put 
a Cerberus in it that is quite equal to his task, difficult as 
it may be, and who has quite as much relish for a bill of 
costs as any squatter can have for a trespass ; but without 
some such guardian of your rights, I would not answer 
for it that you would not be compelled to sleep in the 
highway.” 

“ I trust Sir George Templemore knows howto make 
allowances for Mr. John Effingham’s pictures,” cried 
Grace, unable to refrain from expressing her discontent 
any longer. 

A laugh succeeded, and the beauties of the river again 
attracted their attention. As the boat continued to ascend, 
Mr. Effingham triumphantly affirmed that the appearance 
of things more than equalled his expectations, while both 
Eve and the baronet declared that a succession of lovelier 
landscapes could hardly be presented to the eye. 

“ Whited sepulchres ! ” muttered John Effingham. “ All 


HOME AS FOUND. 


1 16 

outside. Wait until you get a view of the deformity 
within.” 

As the boat approached Albany, Eve expressed her 
satisfaction in still stronger terms, and Grace was made 
perfectly happy by hearing her and Sir George declare 
that the place entirely exceeded their expectations. 

“ I am glad to find, Eve, that you are so fast recovering 
vour American feelings,” said her beautiful cousin, after 
one of those expressions of agreeable disappointment, as 
they were seated at a late dinner in an inn. “You have 
at last found words to praise the exterior of Albany; and 
I hope, by the time we return, you will be disposed to see 
New York with different eyes.” 

“ I expected to see a capital in New York, Grace, and in 
this 1 have been grievously disappointed. Instead of find- 
ing the tastes, tone, conveniences, architecture, streets, 
churches, shops, and society of a capital, I found a huge 
expansion of common-place things, a commercial town, 
and the most mixed and the least regulated society that I 
had ever met with. Expecting so much, where so little 
was found, disappointment was natural. But in Albany, 
although a political capital, I knew the nature of the 
government too well to expect more than a provincial 
town ; and in this respect I have found one much above 
the level of similar places in other parts of the world. I 
acknowledge that Albany has as much exceeded my ex- 
pectations in one sense, as New York has fallen short of 
them in another.” 

“ In this simple fact, Sir George Templemore,” said 
Mr. Effingham, “ you may read the real condition of the 
country. In all that requires something more than usual, 
a deficiency ; in all that is deemed an average, better than 
common. The tendency is to raise everything that is else- 
where degraded to a respectable height, when there com- 
mences an attraction of gravitation that draws all toward 
the centre — a little closer too, than could be wished, per- 
haps.” 

“Aye, aye, Ned! This is very pretty, with your attrac- 
tions and gravitations ; but wait and judge for yourself 
of this average, of which you now speak so complacently.” 

“Nay, John, I borrowed the image from you. If it be 
not accurate, I shall hold you responsible for its defects.” 


HOME AS FOUND . 


Ir 7 

“They tell me,” said Eve, “that all American villages 
are the towns in miniature ; children dressed in hoops and 
wigs. Is this so Grace ? ” 

“ A little. There is too much desire to imitate the 
towns, perhaps, and possibly too little feeling for country 
life.” 

“ This is a very natural consequence, after all, of people’s 
living entirely in such places,” observed Sir George Tem- 
plemore. “ One sees much of this on the continent of 
Europe, because the country population is purely a coun- 
try population ; and less of it in England perhaps, because 
those who are at the head of society consider town and 
country as very distinct things.” 

“ La campag?ie est vraiment delicieuse en Amerique” ex- 
claimed Mademoiselle Viefville, in whose eyes the whole 
country was little more than campagne. 

The next morning our travellers proceeded by the way „ 
of Schenectady, whence they ascended the beautiful valley 
of the Mohawk, by means of a canal boat, the cars that 
now rattle along its length not having commenced their 
active flights at that time. With the scenery every one 
was delighted ; for while it differed essentially from that 
the party had passed through the previous day, it was 
scarcely less beautiful. 

At a point where the necessary route diverged from the 
direction of the canal, carriages of Mr. Effingham’s were 
in readiness to receive the travellers, and here they were 
also favored by the presence of Mr. Bragg, who fancied 
such an attention might be agreeable to the young ladies, 
as well as to his employer. 


CHAPTER IX. 

“Tell me, where is fancy bred — 

Or in the heart, or in the head ? 

How begot, how nourished ? ” 

Song in Shakespeare. 

The travellers were several hours ascending into the 
mountains, by a country road that could scarcely be sur- 
passed by a French wheel-track of the same sort ; for 


IIS 


HOME AS FOUND. 


Mademoiselle Viefville protested twenty times in the 
course of the morning, that it was a thousand pities Mr. 
Effingham had not the privilege of the corvee, that he 
might cause the approach of his terres to be kept in better 
condition. At length they reached the summit — a point 
where the waters began to flow south — when the road be- 
came tolerably level. From this time their progress be- 
came more rapid, and they continued to advance two or 
three hours longer at a steady pace. 

Aristabulus now informed his companions that, in 
obedience to instructions from John Effingham, he had 
ordered the coachman to take a road that led a little from 
the direct line of their journey, and that they had now 
been travelling for some time on the more ancient route 
to Templeton. 

“I was aware of this,” said Mr. Effingham, “ though 
ignorant of the reason. We are on the great western 
turnpike.” 

“ Certainly, sir, and all according to Mr. John’s request. 
There would have been a great saving in distance, and, 
agreeably to my notion, in horse-flesh, had we quietly gone 
down the banks of the lake.” 

“Jack will explain his own meaning,” returned Mr. Ef- 
fingham, “ and he has stopped the other carriage, and 
alighted with Sir George — a hint, I fancy, that we are to 
'follow their example.” 

Sure enough the second carriage was now stopped, and 
Sir George hastened to open its door. 

“Mr. John Effingham, who acts as cicerone,” cried the 
baronet, “insists that everyone shall put pied a terre at this 
precise spot, keeping the important reason still a secret in 
the recesses of his own bosom.” 

The ladies complied, and the carriages were ordered 
to proceed with the domestics, leaving the rest of the 
travellers by themselves, apparently in the heart of the 
forest. 

“ It is to be hoped, mademoiselle, there are no banditti 
in America,” said Eve, as they looked around them at the 
novel situation in which they were placed, apparently by a 
pure caprice of her cousin. 

“ On des sauvages ,” returned the governess, who, in spite 
of her ordinary intelligence and great good sense, had 


ITOME AS FOUND. 


Ix 9 

several times that day cast uneasy and stolen glances 
into the bits of dark wood they had occasionally passed. 

“ 1 will insure your purses and scalps, mesdames ,” cried 
John Effingham, gaily, “on condition that you will follow 
me implicitly ; and by way of pledge for my faith, I solicit 
the honor of supporting Mademoiselle Viefville on this 
unworthy arm.” 

The governess laughingly accepted the conditions, Eve 
took the arm of her father, and Sir George offered his to 
Grace ; Aristabulus, to his surprise, being left to walk en- 
tirely alone. It struck him, however, as so sipgularly im- 
proper that a young lady should be supported on such an 
occasion by her own father, that he frankly and gallantly 
proposed to Mr. Effingham to relieve him of his burden, 
an offer that was declined with quite as much distinctness 
as it was made. 

“ I suppose Cousin Jack has a meaning to his melo- 
drama,” said Eve, as they entered the forest, “ and I dare 
say, dearest father, that you are behind the scenes, though 
I perceive determined secrecy in your face.” 

“ John may have a cave to show us, or some tree of ex- 
traordinary height ; such things existing in the country.” 

“We are very confiding, mademoiselle, for I detect 
treachery in every face around us. Even Miss Van Cort- 
landt has the air of a conspirator, and seems to be in 
league with something or somebody. Pray heaven it be 
not with wolves.” 

“ Des loups ! ” exclaimed Mademoiselle Viefville, stop- 
ping short, with a mien so alarmed as to excite a general 
laugh — “ est-ce quil y a des loups et des sangliers dans celte 
for ell ” 

“ No, mademoiselle,” returned her companion — “this is 
only barbarous America, and not civilized France. Were 
we in le departement de la Seine , we might apprehend some 
such dangers, but being merely in the mountains of Ot- 
sego, we are reasonably safe.” 

“ Je Vespere murmured the governess, as she reluct- 
antly and distrustfully proceeded, glancing her eyes in- 
cessantly to the right and left. The path now became 
steep and rather difficult; so much so, indeed, as to in- 
dispose them all to conversation. It led beneath the 
branches of lofty pines, though there existed on every side 


120 


HOME AS FOUND. 


of them proofs of the ravages man had committed in that 
noble forest. At length they were compelled to stop for 
breath, after having ascended considerably above the road 
they had left. 

“ I ought to have said that the spot where we entered on 
this path is memorable in the family history,” observed 
John Effingham to Eve — “for it was the precise spot where 
one of our predecessors lodged a shot in the shoulder of 
another.” 

“ Then I know precisely where we are ! ” cried our 
heroine, “though I cannot yet imagine why we are led 
into this forest, unless it be to visit some spot hallowed by 
a deed of Natty Bumpo’s ! ” 

“ Time will solve this mystery, as well as all others. Let 
us proceed.” 

Again they ascended, and after a few more minutes of 
trial they reached a sort of table-land, and drew near an 
opening in the trees, where a small circle had evidently 
been cleared of its wood, though it was quite small and 
untilled. Eve looked curiously about her, as did all the 
others to whom the place was novel, and she was lost in 
doubt. 

“There seems to be a void beyond us,” said the baronet. 
“ I rather think Mr. John Effingham has led us to the verge 
of a view.” 

At this suggestion the party moved on in a body, and 
were well rewarded for the toil of the ascent, by a coup 
d’ocil that was almost Swiss in character and beauty. 

“Now do I know where we are,” exclaimed Eve, clasp- 
ing her hands in rapture. “ This is the ‘ Vision,’ and yon- 
der, indeed, is our blessed home.” 

The whole artifice of the surprise was exposed, and after 
the first burst of pleasure had subsided, all to whom the 
scene was novel felt that they would not have missed this 
piquante introduction to the Valley of the Susquehanna on 
any account. That the reader may understand the cause 
of so much delight, and why John Effingham had prepared 
this scene for his friends, we shall stop to give a short de- 
scription of the objects that met the eyes of the travellers; 

It is known that they were in a small open spot in a 
forest, and on the verge of a precipitous mountain. The 
trees encircled them on every side but one, and on that lay 


HOME AS FOUND. 


121 


the panorama, although the tops of tall pines, that grew in 
lines almost parallel to the declivity, rose nearly to a level 
with the eye. Hundreds of feet beneath them, directly in 
front, and stretching leagues to the right, was a lake em- 
bedded in woods and hills. On the side next the travellers 
a fringe of forest broke the line of water ; tree tops that in- 
tercepted the view of the shores ; and on the other, high 
broken hills, or low mountains rather, that were covered 
with farms, beautifully relieved by patches of wood, in a 
way to resemble the scenery of a vast park or a royal 
pleasure-ground, limited the landscape. High valleys lay 
among these uplands, and in every direction comfortable 
dwellings dotted the fields. The dark hues of the ever- 
greens, with which all the heights near the water were 
shaded, were in soft contrast to the livelier green of the 
other foliage, while the meadows and pastures were luxuri- 
ant with a verdure unsurpassed by that of England. Bays 
and points added to the exquisite outline of the glassy lake 
on this shore, while one of the former withdrew toward the 
northwest, in a way to leave the eye doubtful whether it 
was the termination of the transparent sheet or not. To- 
ward the south, bold, varied, but cultivated hills, also 
bounded the view, all teeming with the fruits of human 
labor, and yet all relieved by pieces of wood in the way 
already mentioned, so as to give the entire region the char- 
acter of park scenery. A wide, deep, even valley com- 
menced at the southern end of the lake, or nearly opposite 
to the stand of our travellers, and stretched away south, 
until concealed by a curvature in the ranges of the moun- 
tains. Like all the mountain tops, this valley was verdant, 
peopled, wooded in places, though less abundant than the 
hills, and teeming with the signs of life. Roads wound 
through its peaceful retreats, and might be traced working 
their way along the glens, and up the weary ascents of the 
mountains, for miles in every direction. 

At the northern termination of this lovely valley, and 
immediately on the margin Of the lake, lay the village of 
Templeton, immediately under the eyes of the party. The 
distance, in an air line, from their stand to the centre of 
the dwellings, could not be much less than a mile, but the 
air was so pure, and the day so calm, that it did not seem 
so far. The children and even the dogs were seen running 


122 


HOME AS FOUND . 


about the streets, while the shrill cries of boys at their 
gambols ascended distinctly to the ear. 

As this was the Templeton of the Pioneers, and the pro- 
gress of society during half a century is connected with 
the circumstances, w r e shall give the reader a more accu- 
rate notion of its present state than can be obtained from 
incidental allusions. We undertake the office more readily, 
because this is not one of those places that shoot up in a 
day, under the unnatural efforts of speculation, or which, 
favored by peculiar advantages in the way of trade, be- 
comes a precocious city while the stumps still stand in its 
streets; but a. sober country town, that has advanced 
steadily pari passu with the surrounding country, and 
offers a fair specimen of the more regular advancement of 
the whole nation in its progress toward civilization. 

The appearance of Templeton, as seen from the height 
where it is now exhibited to the reader, was generally beau- 
tiful and map-like. There might be a dozen streets, prin- 
cipally crossing each other at right angles, though suffic- 
iently relieved from this precise delineation to prevent a 
starched formality. Perhaps the greater part of the build- 
ings were painted white, as is usual in the smaller Ameri- 
can towns ; though a better taste was growingin the place, 
and many of the dwellings had the graver and chaster hues 
of the gray stones of which they were built. A general 
air of neatness and comfort pervaded the place, it being as 
unlike a continental European town, south of the Rhine, 
in this respect, as possible, if indeed we except the pictu- 
resque bourgs of Switzerland. In England, Templeton 
would be termed a small market-town, so far as size was 
concerned ; in France, a large bourg ; while in America it 
was, in common parlance and legal appellation, styled a 
village. 

Of the dwellings of the place, fully tw r enty were of a 
quality that denoted ease in the condition of their occu- 
pants, and bespoke the habits of those accustomed to live 
in a manner superior to the oi polloi of the human race. 
Of these, some six or eight had small lawns, carriage 
sweeps, and the other similar appliances of houses that 
were not deemed unworthy of the honor of bearing names 
of their own. No less than five little, steeples, towers, or 
belfries, for neither word is exactly suitably to the archi- 


HOME AS FOUND. 


*21 


tectural prodigies we wish to describe, rose above the roofs, 
denoting the sites of the same number of places of wor- 
ship ; an American village usually exhibiting as many of 
these proofs of liberty of conscience — caprices of con- 
science would perhaps be a better term — as dollars and 
cents will by any process render attainable. Several light 
carriages, such as were suitable to a mountainous country, 
were passing to and fro in the streets ; and here and 
there a single horse vehicle was fastened before the door 
of a shop or a lawyer’s office, denoting the presence of 
some customer or client from among the adjacent hills. 

Templeton was not sufficiently a thoroughfare to possess 
one of those monstrosities, a modern American tavern, or 
a structure whose roof should overtop that of all its neigh- 
bors. Still its inns were of respectable size, well piazzaed, 
to use a word of our own invention, and quite enough 
frequented. 

Near the centre of the place, in grounds of rather limited 
extent, still stood that model of the composite order, which 
owed its existence to the combined knowledge and taste, 
in the remoter ages of the region, of Mr. Richard Jones 
and Mr. Hiram Doolittle. We will not say that it had 
been modernized, for the very reverse was the effect, in 
appearance at least ; but it had since undergone material 
changes under the more instructed intelligence of John 
Effingham. 

This building was so conspicuous by position and size, 
that as soon as they had taken in glimpses of the entire 
landscape, which was not done without constant murmurs 
of pleasure, everv eye became fastened on it, as the focus 
of interest. A long and common silence denoted how 
general was this feeling, and the whole party took seats 
on stumps and fallen trees before a syllable was uttered 
after the building had attracted their gaze. Aristabulus 
alone permitted his look to wander, and he was curiously 
examining the countenance of Mr. Effingham, near whom 
he sat, with a longing to discover whether the expression 
was that of approbation or of disapprobation of the fruits 
of his cousin’s genius. 

“Mr. John Effingham has considerably regenerated and 
revivified, not to say transmogrified, the old dwelling,” he 
said, cautiously using terms that might leave his own 


124 


I/O ME AS FOr.VD. 


opinion of the changes doubtful. “The work of his hand 
has excited some speculation, a good deal of inquiry, and 
a little conversation throughout the country. It has al- 
most produced an excitement !” 

“ As my house came to me from my father,” said Mr. 
Effingham, across whose mild and handsome face a smile 
was gradually stealing, “ I knew its history, and when 
called on for an explanation of its singularities, could re- 
fer all to the composite order. But you, Jack, have sup- 
planted all this by a style of your own, for which I shall 
be compelled to consult the authorities for explanations.” 

“ Do you dislike my taste, Ned? To my eye, now, the 
structure has no bad appearance from this spot ? ” 

“ Fitness and comfort are indispensable requisites for 
domestic architecture, to use your own argument. Are 
you quite sure that yonder castellated roof, for instance, 
is quite suited to the deep snows of these mountains?” 

John Effingham whistled, and endeavored to look un- 
concerned ; for he well knew that the very first winter 
had demonstrated the unsuitableness of his plans for such 
a climate. He had actually felt disposed to cause the 
whole to be altered privately at his own expense ; but, be- 
sides feeling certain his cousin would resent a liberty that 
inferred his indisposition to pay for his own buildings, he 
had a reluctance to admit, in the face of the whole coun- 
try, that he had made so capital a mistake, in a branch of 
art in which he prided himself rather more than common ; 
almost as much as his predecessor in the occupation, Mr. 
Richard Jones. 

“ If you are not pleased with your own dwelling, Ned,” 
he answered, “ you can have at least the consolation of 
looking at some of your neighbors’ houses, and of perceiv- 
ing that they are a great deal worse off. Of all abortions 
of this sort, to my taste, a Grecian abortion is the worst. 
Mine is only Gothic, and that, too, in a style so modest, 
that I should think it might pass unmolested” 

It was so unusual to see John Effingham on the defen- 
sive, that the whole party smiled, while Aristabulus, who 
stood in salutary fear of his caustic tongue, both smiled 
and wondered. 

“Nay, do not mistake me, John,” returned the proprie- 
tor of the edifice under discussion. “ It is not your taste 


HOME AS FOUND. 


125 


that I call in question, but your provision against the 
seasons. In the way of mere outward show, I really think 
you deserve high praise ; for you have transformed a very 
ugly dwelling into one that is almost handsome, in despite 
of proportions and the necessity of regulating the altera- 
tions by prescribed limits. Still, I think there is a little 
of the composite left about even the exterior.” 

“ I hope, Cousin Jack, you have not innovated on the 
interior,” cried Eve ; “for I think f shall remember that, 
and nothing is more pleasant than the ccittism of seeing# 
objects that you remember in childhood. Pleasant, I mean, 
to those whom the mania of mutations has not affected.” 

“ Do not be alarmed, Miss Effingham,” replied her kins- 
man, with a pettishness of manner that was altogether ex- 
traordinary in a man whose mien, in common, was so sin- 
gularly composed and masculine ; “you will find all that 
you knew when a kitten, in its proper place. I could not 
rake together again the ashes of Queen Dido, which were 
scattered to the four winds of heaven, I fear ; nor could I 
discover a reasonably good bust of Homer ; but respectable 
substitutes are provided, and some of them have the great 
merit of puzzling all beholders to tell to whom they belong, 
which I believe was the great characteristic of most of Mr. 
Jones’s inventions.” 

“ I am glad to see, Cousin Jack, that you have at least 
managed to give a very respectable ‘ cloud color ’ to the 
whole house.” 

“Aye, it lay between that and an invisible green,” the 
gentleman answered, losing his momentary spleen in his 
natural love of the ludicrous ; “ but finding that the latter 
would be only too conspicuous in the droughts that some- 
times prevail in tins climate, I settled down into the yellow- 
ish drab. That is, indeed, not unlike some of the richer 
volumes of the clouds.” 

“ On the whole, I think you are fairly entitled, as Stead- 
fast Dodge, Esquire, would say, to ‘ the meed of our 
thanks.’ ” 

“What a lovely spot ! ” exclaimed Mr. Effingham, who 
had already ceased to think of his own dwelling, and whose 
eye was roaming over the soft landscape, athwart which 
the lustre of a June noontide was throwing its richest glo- 
ries. “ This is truly a place where gne might fancy repose 


126 


HOME AS FOUND. 


and content were to be found for the evening of a troubled 
life.” 

“ Indeed, I have seldom looked upon a more bewitching 
scene,” answered the baronet. “ The lakes of Cumberland 
will scarce compete with this ! ” 

“Or that of Brienz, or Lungeren, or Nemi,” said Eve, 
smiling in a way that the other understood to be a hit at 
his nationality. 

“ C'est charmant ! ” murmured Mademoiselle Viefville. 
»“ On pense a d emit e dans un tel calme ! ” 

“ The farm you can see lying near yonder wood, Mr. 
Effingham,” coolly observed Aristabulus, “sold last spring 
for thirty dollars to the acre, and was bought for twenty 
the summer before ! ” 

“ Chacun a son goCtt! ” said Eve. 

“And yet I fear this glorious scene is marred by the envy, 
rapacity, uncharitableness, and all the other evil passions 
of man !” continued the more philosophical Mr. Effingham. 
“Perhaps it were better as it was so lately, when it lay in 
the solitude and peace of the wilderness, the resort of 
birds and beasts.” 

“Who prey on each ^other, dearest father, just as the 
worst of our own species prey on their fellows.” 

“ True, child — true. And yet I never gaze on one of 
these scenes of holy calm, without wishing that the great 
tabernacle of nature might be tenanted only by those who 
have a feeling for its perfection.” 

“Do you see the lady,” said Aristabulus, “that is just 
coming out on the lawn, in front of the ‘ Wigwam?’” for 
that was the name John Effingham had seen fit to give the 
altered and amended abode. “ Here, Miss Effingham, 
more in a line with the top of the pine beneath us.” 

“1 see the person you mean ; she seems to be looking in 
this direction.” 

“You are quite right, miss. She knows that we are to 
stop on the ‘ Vision,’ and no doubt sees us. That lady is 
your father’s cook, Miss Effingham, and is thinking of the 
late breakfast that has been ordered to be in readiness 
against our arrival.” 

Eve concealed her amusement — for, by this time, she 
had discovered that Mr. Bragg had a wav peculiar to him- 
self, or at least to his class, of using many of the com- 


HOME AS FOUND. 


127 


moner words of the English language. It would perhaps 
be expecting too much of Sir George Temple more not to 
expect him to smile on such an occasion. 

“Ah!” exclaimed Aristabulus, pointing toward the 
lake, across which several skiffs were stealing, some in one 
direction, and some in another — “ there is a boat out that 
I think must contain the poet.” 

“ Poet ! ” repeated John Effingham. “ Have we reached 
that pass at Templeton ? ” 

“ Lord, Mr. John Effingham, you must have very con- 
tracted notions of the place, if you think a poet a great 
novelty in it. Why, sir, we have caravans of wild beasts 
nearly every summer ! ” 

“This is, indeed, a step in advance, of which I was igno- 
rant. Here then, in a region that so lately was tenanted 
by beasts of prey, beasts are already brought as curiosities. 
You perceive the state of the country in this fact, Sir 
George Templemore.” 

“ I do, indeed ; but I should like to hear from Mr. Bragg 
what sort of animals are in these caravans ?” 

“ All sorts, from monkeys to elephants. The last had a 
rhinoceros.” 

“ Rhinoceros ! Why, there was but one, lately, in all 
Europe. Neither the Zoological Gardens nor the Jar din 
des Plantes had a rhinoceros ! I never saw but one, and 
that was in a caravan at Rome, that travelled between St. 
Petersburg and Naples.” 

“ Well, sir, we have rhinoceroses here ; and monkeys, 
and zebras, and poets, and painters, and congressmen, and 
bishops, and governors, and all other sorts of creatures.” 

“And who may the particular poet be, Mr. Bragg,” Eve 
asked, “who honors Templeton with his presence just at 
this moment ? ” 

“ That is more than I can tell you, miss ; for though 
some eight or ten of us have done little else than try to 
discover his name for the last week, we have not got even 
as far as that one fact. He and the gentleman who travels 
with him are both uncommonly close on such matters, 
though I think we have some as good catechizers in Tem- 
pleton as can be found anywhere within fifty miles of us.” 

“ There is another gentleman with him ; do you suspect 
them both of being poets ?” 


128 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“ Oh, no, miss, the other is the waiter of the poet ; that 
we know, as he serves him at dinner, and otherwise super- 
intends his concerns, such as brushing his clothes, and 
keeping his room in order.” 

“ This is being in luck for a poet, for they are of a class 
that are a little apt to neglect the decencies. May I ask 
why you suspect the master of being a poet, if the man be 
so assiduous ? ” 

“ Why, what else can he be ? In the first place, Miss 
Effingham, he has no name.” 

“ That is a reason in point,” said John Effingham ; “ very 
few poets having names.” 

“ Then he is out on the lake half his time, gazing up at 
the 1 Silent Pine,’ or conversing with the 1 Speaking Rocks,’ 
or drinking at the ‘ Fairy Spring.’ ” 

“All suspicious, certainly ; especially the dialogue with 
the rocks ; though not absolutely conclusive.” 

“ But, Mr. John Effingham, the man does not take his 
food like other people. He rises early, and is out on the 
water or up in the forest all the morning, and then returns 
to eat his breakfast in the middle of the forenoon ; he goes 
into the woods again, or on the lake, and comes back to 
dinner, just as I take my tea.” 

“ This settles the matter. Any man who presumes to do 
all this, Mr. Bragg, deserves to be called by some harder 
name even than that of a poet. Pray, sir, how long has 
this eccentric person been a resident of Templeton ? ” 

Hist — there he is, as I am a sinner ; and it was not he 
and the other gentleman that were in the boat.” 

The rebuked manner of Aristabulus and the dropping of 
his voice induced the whole party to look in the direction 
of his eye, and sure enough a gentleman approached them, 
in the dress a man of the world is apt to assume in the 
country, an attire of itself that was sufficient to attract 
comment in a place where the general desire was to be as 
much like town as possible, though it was sufficiently neat 
and simple. He came from the forest, along the table-land 
that crowned the mountain for some distance, following 
one of the footpaths that the admirers of the beautiful land- 
scape have made all over that pleasant wood. As he came 
out into the cleared spot, seeing it already in possession of 
a party, he bowed, and was passing on with a delicacy that 


HOME AS FOUND. 


129 


Mr. Bragg would be apt to deem eccentric, when suddenly 
stopping, he gave a look of intense and eager interest at 
the whole party, smiled, advanced rapidly nearer, and dis- 
covered his entire person. 

“ I ought not to be surprised,” he said, as he advanced 
so near as to render doubt any longer impossible, “for I 
knew you were expected, and indeed waited for your ar- 
rival, and yet this meeting has been so unexpected as to 
leave me scarcely in possession of my faculties.” 

It is needless to dwell upon the warmth and number of 
the greetings. To the surprise of Mr. Bragg, his poet was 
not only known but evidently much esteemed by all the 
party, with the exception of Miss Van Cortlandt, to whom 
he was cordially presented by the name of Mr. Powis. Eve 
managed, by an effort of womanly pride, to suppress the 
violence of her emotions, and the meeting passed off as one 
of mutual surprise and pleasure, without any exhibition 
of unusual feeling to attract comment. 

“We ought to express our wonder at finding you here 
before us, my dear young friend,” said Mr. Effingham, still 
holding Paul’s hand affectionately between his own ; “and 
even now that my own eyes assure me of the fact, I can 
hardly believe you would arrive at New York, and quit it 
without giving us the satisfaction of seeing you.” 

“ In that, sir, you are not wrong ; certainly nothing 
could have deprived me of that pleasure, but the knowledge 
that it would not have been agreeable to yourselves. My 
sudden appearance here, however, will be without mystery, 
when I tell you that I returned from England by the way 
of Quebec, the Great Lakes, and the Falls, having been 
induced by my friend Ducie to take that route, in conse- 
quence of his ship’s being sent to the St. Lawrence. A 
desire for novelty, and particularly a desire to see the cele- 
brated cataract, which is almost the lion of America, did 
the rest.” 

“ We are glad to have you with us on any terms, and I 
take it as particularly kind that you did not pass my door. 
You have been here some days ? ” 

“ Quite a week. On reaching Utica I diverged from the 
great route to see this place, not anticipating the pleasure 
of meeting you here so early ; but hearing you were ex- 
pected, I determined to remain, with a hope, which I re- 

9 


130 


HOME AS FOUND. 


joice to find was not vain, that you would not be sorry to 
see an old fellow-traveller again.” 

Mr. Effingham pressed his hands warmly again before 
he relinquished them ; an assurance of welcome that Paul 
received with thrilling satisfaction. 

“ I have been in Templeton almost long enough,” the 
young man resumed, laughing, “to set up as a candidate 
for the public favor, if I rightly understand the claims of a 
denizen. By what I can gather from casual remarks, the 
old proverb that ‘ the new broom sweeps clean,’ applies 
with singular fidelity throughout all this region.” 

“ Have you a copy of your last ode, or a spare epigram, 
in your pocket ? ” inquired John Effingham. 

Paul looked surprised, and Aristabulus, for a novelty, 
was a little dashed. Paul looked surprised, as a matter of 
course, for, although he had been a little annoyed by the 
curiosity that is apt to haunt a village imagination, since 
his arrival in Templeton, he did not in the least suspect 
that his love of a beautiful nature had been imputed to de- 
votion to the muses. Perceiving, however, by the smiles 
of those around him, that there was more meant than was 
expressed, he had the tact to permit the explanation to 
come from the person who had put the question, if it 
were proper it should come at all. 

“ We will defer the great pleasure that is in reserve,” 
continued John Effingham, “to another time. At present, 
it strikes me that the lady of the lawn is getting to be im- 
patient, and the dejeuner a la fourchette , that I have had the 
precaution to order, is probably waiting our appearance. 

It must be eaten, though under the penalty of being 
thought moonstruck rhymers by the whole State. Come, 
Ned ; if you are sufficiently satisfied with looking at the 
Wigwam in a bird’s-eye view, we will descend and put its ' 
beauties to the severer test of a close examination.” 

This proposal was readily accepted, though all tore 
themselves from that lovely spot with reluctance, and not 
until they had paused to take another look. 

“ Fancy the shores of this lake lined with villas,” said 
Eve, “ church-towers raising their dark heads among these 
hills ; each mountain crowned with a castle or a crumbling 
ruin, and all the other accessories of an old state of society, 
and what would then be the charms of the view ? ” 


HOME AS FOUND. 


J 3i 

“ Less than they are to-day, Miss Effingham,” said Paul 
Powis ; “ for though poetry requires — you all smile, is it 
forbidden to touch on such subjects?” 

* Not at all, so it be done in wholesome rhymes,” re- 
turned the baronet. “ You ought to know that you are 
expected even to speak in doggerel.” 

Paul ceased, and the whole party walked away from the 
place laughing and light-hearted. 


CHAPTER X. 

“ It is the spot, I came to seek 
My father’s ancient burial place — 

It is the spot — I know it well, 

Of which our old traditions tell.” 

Bryant. 

From the day after their arrival in New York, or that 
on which the account of the arrests by the English cruiser 
had appeared in the journals, little had been said by any 
of our party concerning Paul Powis, or of the extraordi- 
nary manner in which he had left the packet, at the very 
moment she was about to enter her haven. It is true that 
Mr. Dodge, arrived at Dodgeopolis, had dilated on the 
subject in his hebdomadal, with divers additions and con- 
jectures of his own, and this, too, in a way to attract a 
good deal of attention in the interior ; but, it being a rule 
with those who are supposed to dwell at the fountain of 
foreign intelligence not to receive anything from those 
who ought not to be better informed than themselves, the 
Effinghams and their friends had never heard of his ac- 
count of the matter. 

While all thought the incident of the sudden return ex- 
traordinary, no one felt disposed to judge the young man 
harshly. The gentlemen knew that military censure, how~- 
ever unpleasant, did not always imply moral unworthiness ; 
and as for the ladies, they retained too lively a sense of his 
skill and gallantry to wish to imagine evil on grounds so 
slight and vague. Still, it had been impossible altogether 
to prevent the obtrusion of disagreeable surmises, and all 


T 3 2 


HOME AS FOUND . 


now sincerely rejoiced at seeing their late companion once 
more among them, seemingly in a state of mind that an- 
nounced neither guilt nor degradation. 

On quitting the mountain, Mr. Effingham, who had a 
tender regard for Grace, offered her his arm as he would 
have given it to a second daughter, leaving Eve to the care 
of John Effingham. Sir George attended to Mademoiselle 
Viefville, and Paul walked by the side of our heroine and 
her cousin, leaving Aristabulus to be what he himself 
called a “miscellaneous companion ; ” or, in other words, 
to thrust himself into either set, as inclination or accident 
might induce. Of course the parties conversed as they 
walked, though those in advance would occasionally pause 
to say a word to those in the rear ; and, as they descended, 
one or two changes occurred to which we may have oc- 
casion to allude. 

“ I trust you have had pleasant passages,” said John 
Effingham to Paul, as soon as they were separated in the 
manner just mentioned. “ Three trips across the Atlantic 
in so short a time would be hard duty to a landsman, 
though you, as a sailor, will probably think less of it.” 

“In this respect I have been fortunate; the Foam, as 
we know from experience, being a good traveller, and 
Ducie is altogether a fine fellow and an agreeable mess- 
mate. You know I had him for a companion both going 
and coming.” 

This was said naturally ; and, while it explained so little 
directly, it removed all unpleasant uncertainty, by assuring 
his listeners that he had been on good terms at least with 
the person who had seemed to be his pursuer. John Ef- 
fingham, too, well understood that no one messed with the 
commander of a vessel of war, in his own ship, who was in 
any way thought to be an unfit associate. 

“You have made a material circuit to reach us, the dis- 
tance by Quebec being nearly a fourth more than the di- 
rect road.” 

“ Ducie desired it so strongly, that I did not like to deny 
him. Indeed, he made it a point at first to obtain per- 
mission to land me at New York, where he had found me, 
as he said ; but to this I would not listen, as I feared it 
might interfere with his promotion, of which he stood so 
good a chance, in consequence of his success in the affair 


HOME AS FOUND. 


T 33 


of the money. By keeping constantly before the eyes of 
his superiors, on duty of interest, I thought his success 
would be more certain.” 

“ And has his government thought his perseverance:, in 
the chase worthy of such a reward ? ” 

“ Indeed it has. He is now a post, and all owfng^to fils* 
good luck and judgment in that affair ; though in his 
country, rank in private life does no harm to one in public 
life.” 

Eve liked the emphasis that Paul laid on “ his country,” 
and she thought the whole remark was made in a spirit 
that an Englishman would not be apt to betray. 

“ Has it ever occurred to you,” continued John Effing- 
ham, “that our sudden and unexpected separation has 
caused a grave neglect of duty in me, if not in both of us ?” 

Paul looked surprised, and by his manner he demanded 
an explanation. 

“You may remember the sealed package of poor Mr. 
Monday, that we were to open together on our arrival in 
New York, and on the contents of which we were taught 
to believe depended the settling of some important private 
rights. I gave that package to you at the moment it was 
received, and in the hurry of leaving us, you overlooked 
the circumstance.” 

“ All very true, and to my shame I confess that, until 
this instant, the affair has been quite forgotten by me. I 
had so much to occupy my mind while in England, that it 
was not likely to be remembered, and then the packet it- 
self has scarce been in my possession since the day I left 
you.” 

“ It is not lost, I trust ! ” said John Effingham quickly. 

“ Surely not! It is safe beyond a question, in the writ- 
ing-desk in which I deposited it. But the moment we got 
to Portsmouth, Ducie and myself proceeded to London to- 
gether, and as soon as he had got through at the Admiral- 
ty, we went into Yorkshire, where we remained, much oc- 
cupied with private matters of great importance to us both, 
while his ship was docked, and then it became necessary 
to make sundry visits to our relations ” 

“Relations!” repeated Eve involuntarily, though she 
did not cease to reproach herself for the indiscretion dur- 
ing the rest of the walk. 


I 34 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“Relations,” returned Paul, smiling. “Captain Ducie 
and myself are cousins-german, and we made pilgrimages 
together to sundry family shrines. This duty occupied 
us until a few days before we sailed for Quebec. On- 
reaching our haven, I left the ship to visit the great lakes 
and Niagara, leaving most of my effects with Ducie, who 
has promised to bring them on with himself, when he fol- 
lowed on my track, as he expected soon to do, on his way 
to the West Indies, where he is to find a frigate. He owed 
me this attention, as he insisted, on account of having in- 
duced me to go so far out of my way, with so much lug- 
gage, to oblige him. The packet is, unluckily, left behind 
with the other things.” 

“And do you expect Captain Ducie to arrive in this 
country soon ? The affair of the packet ought not to be 
neglected much longer ; for a promise to a dying man is 
doubly binding, as it appeals to all our generosity. Rather 
than neglect the matter much longer, I would prefer send- 
ing a special messenger to Quebec.” 

“ That will be quite unnecessary, as indeed it would be 
useless. Ducie left Quebec yesterday, and has sent his 
and my effects direct to New York, under the care of his 
own steward. The writing-case, containing other papers 
that are of interest to us both, he has promised not to lose 
sight of, but it will accompany him on the same tour as 
that I have just made ; for he wishes to avail himself of 
this opportunity to see Niagara and the lakes also. He is 
now on my track, and will notify me by letter of the day 
he will be in Utica, in order that we may meet on the line 
of the canal, near this place, and proceed to New York in 
company.” 

His companions listened to this brief statement with 
an intense interest, with which the packet of poor Mr. 
Monday, however, had very little connection. John Ef- 
fingham called to his cousin, and, in a few words, stated 
the circumstances as they had just been related to him- 
self, without adverting to the papers of Mr. Monday, 
which was an affair that he had hitherto kept to himself. 

“ It will be no more than a return of civility, if we in- 
vite Captain Ducie to diverge from his road, and pass a 
few days with us in the mountains,” he added. “At what 
precise time do you expect him to pass, Powis ?” 


HOME AS FOUND. 


J 35 


“ Within the fortnight. I feel certain he would be glad 
to pay his respects to this party ; for he often expressed 
his sincere regrets at having been employed on a service 
that exposed the ladies to so much peril and delay.” 

“ Captain Ducie is a near kinsman of Mr. Powis, dear 
father,” added Eve, in a way to show her parent that the 
invitation would be agreeable to herself ; for Mr. Effing- 
ham was so attentive to the wishes of his daughter, as 
never to ask a guest to his house that he thought would 
prove disagreeable to its mistress. 

“ I shall do myself the pleasure to write to Captain 
Ducie this evening, urging him to honor us with his com- 
pany,” returned Mr. Effingham. “ We expect other friends 
in a few days, and I hope he will not find his time heavy 
on his hands while in exile among us. Mr. Powis will in- 
close my note in one of his letters, and will, I trust, se- 
cond the request by his own solicitations.” 

Paul made his acknowledgments, and the whole party 
proceeded, though the interruption caused such a change 
in the figure of the promenade, as to leave the young man 
the immediate escort of Eve. The party by this time had 
not only reached the highway, but it had again diverged 
from it, to follow the line of an old and abandoned wheel- 
track that descended the mountain, along the side of the 
declivity, by a wilder and more perilous direction than 
suited a modern enterprise — it having been one of those 
little calculated and rude roads that the first settlers of a 
country are apt to make, before there are time and means 
to investigate and finish to advantage. Although much 
more difficult and dangerous than its successor, as a high- 
way, this relic of the infant condition of the country was 
by far the most retired and beautiful, and pedestrians con- 
tinued to use it as a common footpath to the Vision. The 
seasons had narrowed its surface, and the second growth 
had nearly covered it with their branches, shading it like 
an arbor ; and Eve expressed her delight with its wildness 
and boldness, mingled, as both were, with so pleasant a 
seclusion, as they descended along a path as safe and 
convenient as a French allee. Glimpses were constantly 
obtained of the lake and the village while they proceeded, 
and altogether, they who were strangers to the scenery 
were loud in its praises. 


i 3 6 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“ Most persons who see this valley for the first time,” 
observed Aristabulus, “ find something to say in its favor ; 
for my part, I consider it as rather curious myself.” 

“ Curious ! ” exclaimed Paul ; “ that gentleman is at 
least singular in the choice of his expressions.” 

“You have met him before to-day,” said Eve, laughing, 
for Eve was now in a humor to laugh at trifles. “ This 
we know, since he prepared us to meet a poet, where we 
only find an old friend.” 

“ Only, Miss Effingham ! Do you estimate poets so 
high, and old friends so low ?” 

“ This extraordinary person, Mr. Aristabulus Braggs, 
really deranges all one’s notions and opinions in such a 
manner, as to destroy even the usual signification of 
words, I believe. He seems so much in, and yet so much 
out of his place ; is both so ruse and so unpractised ; so 
unfit for what he is, and so ready at everything, that I 
scarcely know how to apply terms in any matter with 
which he has the smallest connection. I fear he has per- 
secuted you since your arrival in Templeton ?” 

“ Not at all ; I am so much acquainted with men of his 
caste, that I have acquired a tact in managing them. Per- 
ceiving that he was disposed to suspect me of a disposi- 
tion to ‘poetize the lake,’ to use his own term, I took care 
to drop a couple of lines, roughly written off, like a hasty 
and imperfect effusion, where I felt sure he would find 
them, and have been living for a whole week on the fame 
thereof.” 

“ You do indulge in such tastes, then ? ” said Eve, smil- 
ing a little saucily. 

“ I am as innocent of such an ambition as of wishing to 
marry the heiress of the British throne, which, I believe, 
just now, is the goal of all the Icaruses of our own time. 
I am merely a rank plagiarist — for the rhyme, on the fame 
of which I have rioted for a glorious week, was two lines 
of Pope’s, an author so effectually forgotten in these 
palmy days of literature, in which all knowledge seems so 
condensed into the productions of the last few years, that 
a man might almost pass off an entire classic for his own, 
without the fear of detection. It was~ merely the first 
couplet of the Essay on Man, which, fortunately, having 
an allusion to the ‘pride of kings,’ would pass for original, 


HOME AS FOUND. 


*37 


as well as excellent, in nineteen villages in twenty in 
America, in these piping times of ultra-republicanism. No 
doubt Mr. Bragg thought a eulogy on the ‘ people ’ was 
to come next, to be succeeded by a glorious picture of 
Templeton and its environs.” 

“ I do not know that I ought to admit these hits at lib- 
erty from a foreigner,” said Eve, pretending to look graver 
than she felt ; for never before, in her life, had our heroine 
so strong a consciousness of happiness as she had ex- 
perienced that very morning. 

“ Foreigner, Miss Effingham ! — And why a foreigner? ” 

“ Nay, you know your own pretended cosmopolitism ; 
and ought not the cousin of Captain Ducie to be an Eng- 
lishman ? ” 

“ I shall not answer for the ought, the simple fact being 
a sufficient reply to the question. The cousin of Captain 
Ducie is not an Englishman ; nor, as I see you suspect, 
has he ever served a day in the British navy, or in any 
other navy than that of his native land.” 

“ This is indeed taking us by surprise, and that most 
agreeably,” returned Eve, looking up at him with undis- 
guised pleasure, while a bright glow crimsoned her face. 
“ We could not but feel an interest in one who had so 
effectually served us ; and both my father and Mr. John 
Effingham ” 

“Cousin Jack — ” interrupted the smiling Paul. 

“Cousin Jack, then, if you dislike the formality I used ; 
both my father and cousin Jack examined the American 
navy registers for your name without success, as I un- 
derstood, and the inference that followed was fair enough, 
I believe you will admit.” 

“ Had they lQoked at the register of a few years’ date, 
they would have met with better luck. I have quitted 
the service, and am a sailor only in recollections. For the 
last few years, like yourselves, 1 have been a traveller by 
land as well as by water.” 

Eve said no more, though every syllable that the young 
man uttered was received by attentive ears, and retained 
with a scrupulous fidelity of memory. They walked some 
distance in silence, until they reached the grounds of a 
house that was beautifully placed on the side of the moun- 
tain, near a lovely wood of pines. Crossing these grounds 


138 


HOME AS FOUND. 


until they reached a terrace in front of the dwelling, the 
village of Templeton lay directly in their front, perhaps a 
hundred feet beneath them, and yet so near, as. to render 
the minutest object distinct. Here they all stopped to 
take a more distinct view of a place' that had so much in- 
terest with most of the party. 

“ I hope you are sufficiently acquainted with the locali- 
ties to act as cicerone,” said Mr. Effingham to Paul. “ In 
a visit of a week to this village, you have scarcely over- 
looked the Wigwam.” 

“ Perhaps I ought to hesitate, or rather ought to blush, 
to own it,” answered the young man, discharging the 
latter obligation by coloring to his temples ; “ but curi- 
osity has proved so much stronger than manners, that I 
have been induced to trespass so far on the politeness 
of this gentleman, as to gain an admission to your dwell- 
ing, in and about which more of my time has been passed 
than has probably proved agreeable to its inmates.” 

“ I hope the gentleman will not speak of it,” said Arista- 
bulus. “ In this country, we live pretty much in common, 
and with me it is a rule, when a gentleman drops in, 
whether stranger or neighbor, to show him the civility to 
ask him to take off his hat.” 

“ It appears to me,” said Eve, willing to change the 
conversation, “ that Templeton has an unusual number of 
steeples ; for what purpose can so small a place possibly 
require so many buildings of that nature ?” 

“All in behalf of orthodoxy, Miss Eve,” returned Aris- 
tabulus, who conceived himself to be the proper person to 
answer such interrogatories. “ There is a shade of opin- 
ion beneath every one of those steeples.” 

“ Do you mean, sir, that there are as many shades of 
faith in Templeton, as I now see buildings that have the 
appearance of being devoted to religious purposes ? ” 

“Double the number, miss, and some to spare, in the 
bargain ; for you see but five meeting-houses, and the 
county buildings, and we reckon seven hostile denomina- 
tions in the village, besides the diversities of sentiment on 
trifles. This edifice that you perceive here, in a line with 
the chimneys of the first house, is New St. Paul’s, Mr. 
Grant’s old church, as orthodox a house, in its way, as 
there is in the diocese, as you may see by the windows. 


HOME AS FOUND, 


J 39 


This is a gaining concern, though there has been some 
falling off of late, in consequence of the clergyman’s hav- 
ing caught a bad cold, which has made him a little hoarse ; 
but I dare say he will get over it, and the church ought not 
to be abandoned on that account, serious as the matter 
undoubtedly is for the moment. A few of us have deter- 
mined to back up New St. Paul’s in this crisis, and I make 
it a point to go there myself quite half the time.” 

“I am glad we have so much of your company,” said 
Mr. Effingham, “for that is our own church, and in it my 
daughter was baptized. But, do you divide your religious 
opinions in halves, Mr. Bragg ? ” 

“ In as many parts, Mr. Effingham, as there are denomi- 
nations in the neighborhood, giving a decided preference 
to New St. Paul’s notwithstanding under the peculiar 
circumstances, particularly to the windows. The dark, 
gloomy-looking building, miss, off in the distance yonder, 
is the Methodist affair, of which not much need be said ; 
Methodism flourishing but little among us since the intro- 
duction of the New Lights, who have fairly managed to 
out-excite them on every plan they can invent. I believe, 
however, they stick pretty much to the old doctrine, which 
no doubt is one great reason of their present apathetic 
state ; for the people do love novelties.” 

“ Pray, sir, what building is this nearly in a line with 
New St. Paul’s, and which resembles it a little in color 
and form ? ” 

“Windows excepted ; it has two rows of regular square- 
topped windows, miss, as you may observe. That is the 
First Presbyterian, or the old standard ; a very good house 
and a pretty good faith, too, as times go. I make it a point 
to attend there at least once every fortnight ; for change 
is agreeable to the nature of man. I will say, miss, that 
my preference, so far as I have any, however, is for New 
St. Paul’s, and I have experienced considerable regrets 
that these Presbyterians have gained a material advantage 
over us, in a very essential point, lately.” 

“ I am sorry to hear this, Mr. Bragg ; for, being an Epis- 
copalian myself, and having great reliance on the antiquity 
and purity of my church, I should be sorry to find it put 
in the wrong by any other.” 

“ I fear we must give that point up, notwithstanding ; 


140 


HOME AS FOUND. 


for these Presbyterians have entirely outwitted the church 
people in that matter.” 

“ And what is the point in which we have been so sig- 
nally worsted ? ” 

“ Why miss, their new bell weighs quite a hundred more 
than that of New St. Paul’s, and has altogether the best 
sound. I know very well that this advantage will not avail 
them anything to boast of, in the last great account ; but 
it makes a surprising difference in the state of probation. 
You see the yellowish-looking building across the valley, 
with a heavy wall around it, and a belfry ? That, in its 
regular character, is the county court-house and jail ; but 
in the way of religion, it is used pretty much miscellan- 
eously.” 

“ Do you mean really, sir, that divine service is ever 
actually performed in it, or that persons of all denomina- 
tions are occasionally tried there ? ” 

“ It would be truer to say that all denominations occa- 
sionally try the court-house,” said Aristabulus, simpering ; 
“ for I believe it has been used in this wav by every shade 
of religion short of the Jews. The Gothic tower in wood 
is the building of the Universalists ; and the Grecian edi- 
fice, that is not yet painted, of the Baptists. The Quakers, 
I believe, worship chiefly at home, and the different shades 
of the Presbyterians meet in different rooms in private 
houses about the place.” 

“Are there then shades of difference in the denomina- 
tions, as well as all these denominations ? ” asked Eve, in 
unfeigned surprise; “and this, too, in a population so 
small ? ” 

“ This is a free country, Miss Eve, and freedom loves 
variety. ‘Many men, many minds.’ ” 

“ Quite true, sir,” said Paul ; “but here are many minds 
among few men. Nor is this all ; agreeably to your own 
account, some of these men do not exactly know their own 
minds. But can you explain to us what essential points 
are involved in all these shades of opinion ? ” 

“ It would require a life, sir, to understand the half of 
them. Some say that excitement is religion, and others, 
that it is contentment. One set cries up practice, and 
another cries out against it. This man maintains that he 
will be saved if he does good, and that man affirms that if 


HOME AS FOUND . 


141 

he only does good, he will be damned ; a little evil is nec- 
essary to salvation, with one shade ©f opinion, while an- 
other thinks a man is never so near conversion as when he 
is deepest in sin.” 

“ Subdivision is the order of the day,” added John Effing- 
ham. “ Every county is to be subdivided, that there may 
be more county towns and county offices ; every religion 
decimated, that there may be a greater variety and a better 
quality of saints.” 

Aristabulus nodded his head, and he would have winked, 
could he have presumed to take such a liberty with a man 
he held as much in habitual awe as John Effingham. 

“Monsieur,” inquired Mademoiselle Viefville, “is there 
no e'glise, no ve'ritable /glise in Templeton ?” 

“ Oh, yes, madame, several,” returned Aristabulus, who 
would as soon think of admitting that he did not under- 
stand the meaning of veritable eglise, as one of the sects he 
had been describing would think of admitting that it was 
not infallible in its interpretation of Christianity — “sev- 
eral ; but they are not to be seen from this particular spot.” 

“ How much more picturesque would it be, and even 
Christian-like in appearance, at least,” said Paul, “could 
these good people consent to unite in worshipping God ! 
and how much does it bring into strong relief the feeble- 
ness and ignorance of man, when you see him splitting 
hairs about doctrines, under which he has been told, in 
terms as plain as language can make it, that he is simply 
required to believe in the goodness and power of a Being 
whose nature and agencies exceed his comprehension.” 

“All very true,” cried John Effingham, “but what 
would become of liberty of conscience in such a case ? 
Most men, nowadays, understand by faith, a firm reliance 
on their own opinions ! ” 

“In that case, too,” put in Aristabulus, “we should 
want this handsome display of churches to adorn our vil- 
lage. There is good comes of it ; for any man would be 
more likely to invest in a place that has five churches than 
in a place with but one. As it is, Templeton has as 
beautiful a set of churches as any village I know.” 

“ Say rather, sir, a set of castors ; for a stronger resem- 
blance to vinegar-cruets and mustard-pots than is borne 
by these architectural prodigies, eye never beheld.” 


142 


HOME AS FOU/VD. 


“ It is, nevertheless, a beautiful thing, to see the high- 
pointed roof of the hguse of God, crowning an assemblage 
of houses, as one finds it in other countries,” said Eve, 
“ instead of a pile of tavern, as is too much the case in this 
dear home of ours.” 

When this remark was uttered, they descended the step 
that led from the terrace, and proceeded toward the vil- 
lage. On reaching the gate of the Wigwam, the whole 
party stood confronted with that offspring of John Effing- 
ham’s taste ; for so great had been his improvements on 
the original production of Hiram Doolittle, that exter- 
nally, at least, that distinguished architect could no longer 
have recognized the fruits of his own talents. 

“ This is carrying out to the full, John, the conceits of 
the composite order,” observed Mr. Effingham, drily. 

“ I shall be sorry, Ned, if you dislike your house as it is 
amended and corrected.” 

“ Dear Cousin Jack,” cried Eve, “it is an odd jumble of 
the Grecian and Gothic. One would like to know your 
authorities for such a liberty.” 

“What do you think of the facade of the cathedral of 
Milan, miss?” laying emphasis on the last words, in imita- 
tion of the manner of Mr. Bragg. “ Is it such a novelty 
to see the two styles blended ; or is architecture so pure in 
America, that you think I have committed the unpardon- 
able sin ? ” 

“ Nay, nothing that is out of rule ought to strike one in 
a country where imitation governs in all things immate- 
rial, and originality unsettles all things sacred and dear.” 

“ By way of punishment for that bold speech, I wish I 
had left the old rookery in the state I found it, that its 
beauties might have greeted your eyes, instead of this un- 
couth pile, which seems so much to offend them. Made- 
moiselle Viefville, permit me to ask how you like that 
house ? ” 

“ Mais c' est u?i petit chateau." 

“ Un chateau , Effinghamise" said Eve, laughing. 

“ Effing hamise si vous voulez , tna chcre ; pour taut c'est un 
chateau." 

“ The general opinion in this part of the country is,” 
said Aristabulus, “ that Mr. John Effingham has altered 
the building on the plan of some edifice of Europe, though 


HOME AS FOUND . 


r 43 

I forget the name of the particular temple ; it is not, how- 
ever, the Parthenon, nor the temple of Minerva.” 

“I ho'pe, at least,” said Mr. Effingham, leading the way 
up a little lawn, “it will not turn out to be the Temple of 
the Winds.” 


CHAPTER XI. 

“Nay, I’ll come ; if I lose a scruple of this sport, let me be boiled to 
death with melancholy.” — Shakespeare. 

The progress of society in America has been distin- 
guished by several peculiarities that do not so properly 
belong to the more regular and methodical advances of 
civilization in other parts of the world. On the one hand 
the arts of life, like Minerva, who was struck out of the 
intellectual being of her father at a blow, have started full- 
grown into existence, as the legitimate inheritance of the 
colonists, while on the other, everything tends toward 
settling down into a medium, as regards quality, a conse-? 
quence of the community-character of the institutions. 
Everything she had seen that day had struck Eve as par- 
taking of this mixed nature, in which, while nothing was 
vulgar, little even approached to that high standard that 
her European education had taught her to esteem perfect. 
In the Wigwam, however, as her father’s cousin had 
seen fit to name the family dwelling, there was more 
of keeping, and a closer attention to the many little things 
she had been accustomed to consider essential to comfort 
and elegance, and she was better satisfied with her future 
home than with most she had seen since her return to 
America. 

As we have described the interior of this house in 
another work, little remains to be said on the subject at 
present ; for, while John Effingham had completely altered 
its external appearance, its internal was not much changed. 
It is true, the cloud-colored covering had disappeared, as 
had that stoop also, the columns of which were so nobly 
upheld by their superstructure ; the former having given 
place to a less obtrusive roof, that was regularly embattled, 


144 


HOME AS FOUND. 


and the latter having been swallowed by a small entrance 
tower that the new architect had contrived to attach to 
the building with quite as much advantage to it in the way 
of comfort as in the way of appearance. In truth, the 
Wigwam had none of the more familiar features of a 
modern American dwelling of its class. There was not a 
column about it, whether Grecian, Roman, or Egyptian ; 
no Venetian blinds ; no veranda or piazza ; no outside 
paint, nor gay blending of colors. On the contrary, it 
was a plain old structure, built with great solidity and of 
excellent materials, and in that style of respectable dignity 
and propriety that was perhaps a little more peculiar to 
our fathers than it is to their successors, our worthy selves. 
In addition to the entrance tower, or porch, on its northern 
front, John Effingham had also placed a prettily devised 
conceit on the southern, by means of which the abrupt 
transition from an inner room to the open air was adroitly 
avoided. He had, moreover, removed the “firstly” of the 
edifice, and supplied its place with a more suitable addi- 
tion that contained some of the offices, while it did not 
disfigure the building, a rare circumstance in an architect- 
ural after-thought. 

Internally the Wigwam had gradually been undergoing 
improvements ever since that period, which, in the way of 
the arts, if not in the way of chronology, might be termed 
the dark ages of Otsego. The great hall had long before 
lost its characteristic decoration of the severed arm of 
Wolf, a Gothic paper that was better adapted to the really 
respectable architecture of the room being its substitute : 
and even the urn that was thought to contain the ashes of 
Queen Dido, like the pitcher that goes often to the well, 
had been broken in a war of extermination that had been 
carried on against the cobwebs, by, a particularly notable 
housekeeper. Old Homer, too, had gone the way of all 
baked clay ; Shakespeare himself had dissolved into dust, 
“leaving not a wrack behind;” and of Washington and 
Franklin, even, indigenous as they were, there remained 
no vestiges. Instead of these venerable memorials of the 
past, John Effingham, who retained a pleasing recollection 
of their beauties as they had presented themselves to his 
boyish eyes, had bought a few substitutes in a New York 
shop, and a Shakespeare, and a Milton, and a Caesar, and 


HOME AS FOUND. 


T 45 


a Dryden, and a Locke, as the writers of heroic so beauti- 
fully express it, were now seated in tranquil dignity on 
the old medallions that had held their illustrious prede- 
cessors. Although time had, as yet, done little for this 
new collection in the way of color, dust and neglect were 
already throwing around them the tint of antiquity. 

“The lady,” to use the language of Mr. Bragg, who did 
the cooking of the Wigwam, having everything in^readi- 
ness, our party took their seats at the breakfast-table, 
which was spread in the great hall, as soon as each had 
paid a little attention to the toilette. As the service was 
neither very scientific nor sufficiently peculiar, either in 
the way of elegance or of its opposite quality, to be worthy 
of notice, we shall pass it over in silence. 

“One will not quite so much miss European architect- 
ure in this house,” said Eve, as she took her seat at table, 
glancing an eye at the spacious and lofty room in which 
they were assembled ; “ here 'is at least size and its 
comforts, if not elegance.” 

“Had you lost all recollection of this building, my 
child,” inquired her father, kindly, “ I was in hopes you 
would feel some of the happiness of returning home, when 
you again found yourself beneath its roof !” 

“ I should greatly dislike to have all the antics I have 
been playing in my own dressing-room exposed,” returned 
Eve, rewarding the parental solicitude of her father by a 
look of love, “ though Grace, between her laughing and 
her tears, has threatened me with such a disgrace. Ann 
Sidley has also been weeping ; and as even Annette, always 
courteous and considerate, has shed a few tears in the way 
of sympathy, you ought not to imagine that I have been 
altogether so stoical as not to betray some feeling, dear 
father. But the paroxysm is past, and I am beginning to 
philosophize. I hope, cousin Jack, you have not forgotten 
that the drawing-room is a lady’s empire ! ” 

“ I have respected your rights, Miss Effingham, though, 
with a wish to prevent any violence to your tastes, I have 
caused sundry antediluvian paintings and engravings to be 
consigned to the ” 

“ Garret ?” inquired Eve, so quickly as to interrupt the 
speaker. 

“ Fire,” coolly returned her cousin. “ The garret is now 
io 


146 


HOME AS FOUND . 


much too good for them ; that part of the house being con- 
verted into sleeping-rooms for the maids. Mademoiselle 
Annette would go into hysterics, were she to see the works 
of art that satisfied the past generation of masters in this 
country, in too close familiarity with her Louvre-ized eyes.” 

“ Point du tout monsieur ,” said Mademoiselle Viefville, in- 
nocently ; “ Annette a du gout dans son metier sans doute , but 
she isToo well bred to expect impossibility. No doubt she 
would have conducted herself with decorum.” 

Everybody laughed, for much light-heartedness prevailed 
at that board, and the conversation continued. 

“ I shall be satisfied if Annette escape convulsions,” Eve 
added, “a refined taste being her weakness; and to be 
frank, what I recollect of the works you mention, is not of 
the most flattering nature.” 

“And yet,” observed Sir George, “nothing has surprised 
me more than the respectable state of the arts of engraving 
and painting in this country. It was unlooked for, and 
the pleasure has probably been in proportion to the sur- 
prise.” 

“In that you are very right, Sir George Templemore,” 
John Effingham answered ; “ but the improvement is of 
very recent date. He who remembers an American town 
half a century ago, will see a very different thing in an 
American town of to-day ; and this is equally true of the 
arts you mention, with the essential difference that the lat- 
ter are taking a right direction under a proper instruction, 
while the former are taking a wrong direction under the 
influence of money, that has no instruction. Had I left 
much of the old furniture or any of the old pictures in the 
Wigwam, we should have had the bland features of Miss 
Effingham in frowns instead of bewitching smiles, at this 
very moment.” 

“And yet I have seen fine old furniture in this country, 
cousin Jack.” 

“Very true ; though not in this part of it. The means 
of conveyance were wanting half a century since, and few 
people risk finery of any sort on corduroys. This very 
house had some respectable old things, that were brought 
here by dint of money, and they still remain ; but the 
eighteenth century in general may be set . down as a very 
dark antiquity in all this region.” 


HOME AS FOUND . 


147 


When the repast was over, Mr. Effingham led his guests 
and daughter through the principal apartments, sometimes 
commending and sometimes laughing at the conceits of his 
kinsman. The library was a good-sized room ; good-sized 
at least for a country in which domestic architecture, as 
well as public architecture, is still in the chrysalis state. 
Its walls were hung with an exceedingly pretty gothic 
paper, in green, but over each window was a chasm in the 
upper border ; and as this border supplied the arches, the 
unity of the entire design was broken in no less than four 
places, that being the precise number of the windows. The 
defect soon attracted the eye of Eve, and she was not slow 
in demanding an explanation. 

“ The deficency is owing to an American accident,” re- 
turned her cousin ; “ one of those calamities of which you 
are fated to experience many, as the mistress of an Ameri- 
can household. No more of the border was to be bought 
in the country, and this is a land of shops and not of fabri- 
cants. At Paris, mademoiselle, one would send to the 
paper-maker for a supply ; but, alas ! he that has not 
enough of a thing with us, is as badly off as if he had none. 
We are consumers and not producers of works of art. It 
is a long way to send to France for ten or fifteen feet of 
paper-hangings, and yet this must be done, or my beauti- 
ful gothic arches will remain forever without their key- 
stones ! ” 

“ One sees the inconvenience of this,” observed Sir 
George ; “we feel it, even in England, in all that relates 
to imported things.” 

“And we, in nearly all things, but food.” 

“ And does not this show that America can never be- 
come a manufacturing country ? ” asked the baronet, with 
the interest an intelligent Englishman ever feels in that 
all-absorbing question. “ If you cannot manufacture an 
article as simple as that of paper-hangings, would it not 
be well to turn your attention altogether to agriculture ?” 

As the feeling of this interrogatory was much more ap- 
parent than its logic, smiles passed from one to the other, 
though John Effingham, who really had a regard for Sir 
George, was content to make an evasive reply, a singular 
proof of amity in a man of his caustic temperament. 

The survey of the house, on the whole, proved satL- 


148 


HOME AS FOUND . 


factory to its future mistress, who complained, however, 
that it was furnished too much like a town residence. 

“For,” she added, “you will remember, cousin Jack, 
that our visits here will be something like a villeggiatura .” 

“Yes, yes, my fair lady; it will not be long before your 
Parisian and Roman tastes will be ready to pronounce the 
whole country a villeggiatura ! ” 

“This is the penalty, Eve, one pays for being a Hajji,” 
observed Grace, who had been closely watching the ex- 
pression of the others’ countenances ; for, agreeably to 
her view of things, the Wigwam wanted nothing to ren- 
der it a perfect abode. “ The things that we enjoy, you 
despise.” 

“ That is an argument, my dear coz, that would apply 
equally well as a reason for preferring brown sugar to 
white.” 

“ In coffee, certainly, Miss Eve,” put in the attentive 
Aristabulus, who having acquired this taste, in virtue of 
an economical mother, really fancied it a pure one. “ Every- 
body, in these regions, prefers brown in coffee.” 

“ Oh, mon pere et ma mere, comme je vous en veux,” said 
Eve, without attending to the nice distinctions of Mr. Bragg, 
which savored a little too much of the neophyte in cookery 
to find favor in the present company, “ comme je vous eft 
veux for having neglected so many beautiful sites, to place 
this building in the very spot it occupies.” 

“ In that respect, my child, we may rather be grateful at 
finding so comfortable a house at all. Compared with the 
civilization that then surrounded it, this dwelling was a 
palace at the time of its erection ; bearing some such rela- 
tion to the humbler structures around it, as the chateau 
bears to the cottage. Remember that brick had never 
before been piled on brick, in the walls of a house, in all 
this region, when the wigwam was constructed. It is the 
Temple of Neptune of Otsego; if not of all the surrounding 
counties.” 

Eve pressed to her lips the hand she was holding in both 
her own, and they all passed out of the library into another 
room. As they came in front of the hall windows, a party 
of apprentice-boys were seen coolly making their arrange- 
ments <to amuse themselves with a game of ball, on the lawn 
directly in front of the house. 


HOME AS FOUND. 


149 


“ Surely, Mr. Bragg,” said the owner of the Wigwam, 
with more displeasure in his voice than was usual for one 
of his regulated mind, “ you do not countenance this lib- 
erty ? ” 

“ Liberty, sir ! — I am an advocate for liberty wherever I 
can find it. Do you refer to the young men on the lawn, 
Mr. Effingham ? ” 

“ Certainly to them, sir ; and permit me to say, I think 
they might have chosen a more suitable spot for their 
sports. They are mistaking liberties for liberty, I fear.” 

“ Why, sir, I believe they have always played ball in 
that precise locality.” 

“Always! lean assure you this is a great mistake. 
What private family, placed as we are in the centre of a 
village, would allow of any invasion of its privacy in this 
rude manner ? Well may the house be termed a Wigwam, 
if this whooping is to be tolerated before its door.” 

“You forget, Ned,” said John Effingham, with a sneer, 
“ that an American always means just eighteen months. 
Antiquity is reached in five lustra, and the dark ages at 
the end of a human life. I dare say these amiable young 
gentlemen, who enliven their sports with so many agree- 
able oaths, would think you very unreasonable and en- 
croaching to presume to tell them they are unwelcome.” 

“To own the truth, Mr. John, it would be downright un- 
popular.” 

“ As I cannot permit the ears of the ladies to be offended 
with these rude brawls, and shall never consent to have 
grounds that are so limited, and which so properly belong 
to the very privacy of my dwelling, invaded in this coarse 
manner, I beg, Mr. Bragg, that you will at once desire 
these young men to pursue their sports somewhere else.” 

Aristabulus received this commission with a very ill 
grace ; for, while his native sagacity told him that Mr. 
Effingham was right, he too well knew the loose habits 
that had been rapidly increasing : in the country during the 
last ten years, not to foresee that the order would do vio- 
lence to all the apprentices’ preconceived notions of their 
immunities ; for, as he had truly stated, things move on at 
so quick a pace in America, and popular feeling is so ar- 
bitrary, that a custom of a twelvemonth’s existence is 
deemed sacred, until the public itself sees fit to alter it. 


HOME AS FOUND. 


150 

He was reluctantly quitting the party on his unpleasant 
duty, whon Mr. Effingham turned to a servant who be- 
longed to the place, and bade him go to the village barber, 
and desire him to come to the Wigwam to cut his hair , 
Pierre, who usually performed that office for him, being 
busied in unpacking trunks. 

“ Never mind, Tom,” said Aristabulus obligingly, as he 
took up his hat ; “ I am going into the street, and will give 
the message to Mr. Lather.” 

“ I cannot think, sir, of employing you on such a duty/’ 
hastily interposed Mr. Effingham, who felt a gentleman’s 
reluctance to impose an unsuitable office on any of his de-. 
pendants — “ Tom, I am sure, will do me the favor.” 

“ Do not name it, my dear sir ; nothing makes me hap- 
pier than to do these little errands, and, another time, you 
can do as much for me.” 

Aristabulus now went on his way more cheerfully, for 
he determined to go first to the barber, hoping that some 
expedient might suggest itself, by means of which he could 
coax the apprentices from the lawn, and thus escape the 
injury to his popularity that he so much dreaded. It is 
true, these apprentices were not voters, but then some of 
them speedily would be, and all of them, moreover, had 
tongues, an instrument Mr. Bragg held in quite as much 
awe as some men dread saltpetre. In passing the ball- 
players, he called out in a wheedling tone to their ring 
leader, a notorious street brawler : 

“ A fine time for sport, Dickey ; don’t you think there 
would be more room in the broad street than on this 
crowded lawn, where you lose your ball so often in the 
shrubbery ? ” 

“ This place will do, on a pinch,” bawled Dickey — 
“though it might be better. If it warn’t for that plagued 
house, we couldn’t ask for a better ball-ground.” 

“ I don’t see,” put in another, “what folks built a house 
just in that spot for ; for -at has spoilt the very best play- 
ground in the village.” 

“ Some people have their notions as well as others,” re- 
turned Aristabulus; “but, gentlemen, if I were in your 
place, I would try the street. I feel satisfied you would 
find it much the most agreeable and convenient.” 

The apprentices thought differently, however, or they 


HOME AS FOUND. 


i5i 

were indisposed to the change ; and so they recommenced 
their yells, their oaths, and their game. In the meanwhile 
the party in the house continued their examination of John 
Effingham’s improvements, and when this was completed, 
they separated, each to his or her own room. 

Aristabulus soon reappeared on the lawn, and approach- 
ing the ball-players, he began to execute his^commission, 
as he conceived, in good earnest. Instead of simply saying, 
however, that it was disagreeable to the owner of the prop- 
erty to have such an invasion on his privacy, and thus put- 
ting a stop to the intrusion for the future as well as at the 
present moment, he believed some address necessary to at- 
tain the desired end. 

“Well, Dickey,” he said, “there is no accounting for 
tastes ; but, in my opinion, the street would be a much bet- 
ter place to play ball in than this lawn. I wonder gentle- 
men of your observation should be satisfied with so cramped 
a playground.” 

“ I tell you, Squire Bragg, this will do,” roared Dickey. 
“We are in a hurry, and no way particular. The bosses 
will be after us in half an hour. Heave away, Sam ! ” 

“ There are so many fences hereabouts,” continued Aris- 
tabulus, with an air of indifference ; “ it’s true the village 
trustees say there shall be no ball-plaving in the street, but 
I conclude you don’t much mind what they think or 
threaten.” 

“ Let them sue for that, if they like,” bawled a particu- 
larly amiable blackguard, called Peter, who struck his ball 
as he spoke, quite into the principal street of the village. 

“Who’s a trustee, that he should tell gentlemen where 
they are to play ball !” 

“Sure enough,” said Aristabulus, “and now, by follow- 
ing up that blow, you can bring matters to an issue. I 
think the law very oppressive, and you can never have so 
good an opportunity to bring things to a crisis. Besides, 
it is very aristocratic to play ball among roses and dah- 
lias.” 

The bait took ; for what apprentice — American appren- 
tice in particular — can resist an opportunity of showing 
how much he considers himself superior to the law ? Then 
it had never struck any of the party before, that it was 
vulgar and aristocratic to pursue the sport among roses, and 


152 


HOME AS FOUND. 


one or two of them actually complained that they had 
pricked their fingers in searching for the ball. 

“ I know Mr. Effingham will be very sorry to have you 
go,” continued Aristabulus, following up his advantage ; 
“but gentlemen cannot always forego their pleasures for 
other folks.” 

“ Who’s Mr. Effingham, I would like to know ? ” cried 
Joe Wart. “ If he wants people to play ball on his prem- 
ises, let him cut down his roses. Come, gentlemen, I con- 
form to Squire Bragg, and invite you all to follow me into 
the street.” 

As the lawn was now evacuated en masse , Aristabulus 
proceeded with alacrity to the h6use, and went into the 
library, where Mr. Effingham was patiently waiting his re- 
turn. 

“ I am happy to inform you, sir,” commenced the am- 
bassador, “ that the ball-players have adjourned, and as 
for Mr. Lather, he declines your proposition ! ” 

“ Declines my proposition ! ” 

“Yes, sir, he dislikes to come ; for he thinks it will be 
altogether a poor operation. His notion is, that if it be 
worth his while to come up to the Wigwam to cut your 
hair, it may be worth your while to go down to the shop, 
to have it cut. Considering the matter in all its bearings, 
therefore, he concludes he would rather not engage in the 
transaction at all.” 

“ I regret, sir, to have consented to your taking so disa- 
greeable a commission, and regret it the more, now I find 
that the barber is disposed to be troublesome.” 

“Not at all, sir. Mr. Lather is a good man, in his way, 
and particularly neighborly. By the way, Mr. Effingham, 
he asked me to propose to let him take down your garden 
fence, in order that he may haul some manure on his po- 
tato patch, which wants it dreadfully, he says.” 

“ Certainly, sir. I cannot possibly object to his hauling 
his manure even through this house, should he wish it. 
He is so very valuable a citizen, and one who knows his 
own business so well, that I am only surprised at the 
moderation of his request.” 

Here Mr. Effingham rose, rang the bell for Pierre, and 
went to his own room, doubting, in his own mind, from 
all that he had seen, whether this was really the Templeton 


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153 


he had known in his youth, and whether he was in his 
own house or not. 

As for Aristabulus, who saw nothing out of rule, or con- 
trary to his own notions of propriety, in what had passed, 
he hurried off to tell the barber, who was so ignorant of 
the first duty of his trade, that he was at liberty to pull 
down Mr. Effingham’s fence, in order to manure his own 
potato patch. 

Lest the reader should suppose we are drawing carica- 
tures, instead of representing an actual condition of so- 
ciety, it may be necessary to explain that Mr. Bragg 
was a standing candidate for popular favor ; that, like Mr. 
Dodge, he considered everything that represented itself 
in the name of the public as sacred and paramount, and that 
so general and positive was his deference for majorities, 
that it was the bias of his mind to think half a dozen al- 
ways in the right, as opposed to one, although that one, 
agreeably to the great decision of the real majority of the 
entire community, had not only the law on his side, but 
all the abstract merits of the disputed question. In short, 
to such a pass of freedom had Mr. Bragg, in common with 
a large class of his countrymen, carried his notions, that 
he had really begun to imagine liberty was all means and 
no end. 


CHAPTER XII. 

“ In sooth, thou wast in very gracious fooling last night, when thou spok- 
est of Pigrogromotus, of the Vapians passing the equinoctial of Queubus ; 
’twas very good, i’ faith.” — Sir Andrew Ague-Cheek. 

The progress of society, it has just been said, in what is 
termed a “ new country,” is a little anomalous. At the 
commencement of a settlement, there is much of that sort 
of kind feeling and mutual interest which men are apt to 
manifest toward each other when they are embarked in 
an enterprise of common hazards. The distance that is 
unavoidably inseparable from education, habits, and man- 
ners, is lessened by mutual wants and mutual efforts ; and 
the gentleman, even while he may maintain his character 
and station, maintains them with that species of good-fel- 


*54 


HOME AS FOUND. 


lowsliip and familiarity, that marks the intercourse between 
the officer and the soldier in an arduous campaign. Men, 
and even women, break bread together, and otherwise 
commingle, that, in different circumstances, would be 
strangers ; the hardy adventures and rough living of the 
forest, apparently lowering the pretensions of the man of 
cultivation and mere mental resources, to something very 
near the level of those of the man of physical energy and 
manual skill. In this rude intercourse, the parties meet, 
as it might be, on a sort of neutral ground, one yielding 
some of his superiority, and the other laying claims to an 
outward show of equality, that he secretly knows, however, 
is the result of the peculiar circumstances in which he is 
placed. In short, the state of society is favorable to the 
claims of mere animal force, and unfavorable to those of 
the higher qualities. 

This period may be termed, perhaps, the happiest of the 
first century of a settlement. The great cares of life are 
so engrossing and serious that small vexations are over- 
looked, and the petty grievances that would make us seri- 
ously uncomfortable in a more regular state of society, 
are taken as matters of course, or laughed at as the regu- 
lar and expected incidents of the day. Good-will abounds ; 
neighbor comes cheerfully to the aid of neighbor ; and life 
has much of the reckless .gaiety, careless association, and 
buoyant merriment of childhood. It is found that they 
who have passed through this probation, usually look back 
to it with regret, and are fond of dwelling on the rude 
scenes and ridiculous events that distinguish the history 
of a new settlement, as the hunter is known to pine for 
the forest. 

To this period of fun, toil, neighborly feeling and ad- 
venture, succeeds another, in which society begins to mar- 
shal itself, and the ordinary passions have sway. Now it 
is that we see the struggles for place, the heart-burnings 
and jealousies of contending families, and the influence of 
mere money. Circumstances have probably established 
the local superiority of a few beyond all question, and the 
condition of these serves as a goal for the rest to aim at. 
The learned professions, the ministry included, or what by 
courtesy are so called, take precedence, as a matter of 
course — next to wealth, however, when wealth is at all sup- 


HOME AS FOUND. 


T 55 


ported by appearances. Then commence those gradations 
of social station that set institutions at defiance, and which 
as necessarily follow civilization, as tastes and habits are a 
consequence of indulgence. 

This is perhaps the least inviting condition of society 
that belongs to any country that can claim to be free, and 
removed from barbarism. The tastes are too uncultivated 
to -exercise any essential influence, and when they do exist 
it is usually with the pretension ancTeffort that so common- 
ly accompany infant knowledge. The struggle is only so 
much the more severe, in consequence of the late pile mele y 
while men lay claim to a consideration that would seem be- 
yond their reach in an older and more regulated commu- 
nity. It is during this period that manners suffer the most, 
since they want the nature and feeling of the first condi- 
tion, while they are exposed to the rudest assaults of the 
coarse-minded and vulgar ; for, as men usually defer to a 
superiority that is long established, there being a charm 
about antiquity that is sometimes able to repress the pas- 
sions, in older communities the marshalling of time quiet- 
ly regulates what is here the subject of strife. 

What has just been said depends on a general and natu- 
ral principle, perhaps ; but the state of society we are de- 
scribing has some features peculiar to itself. The civiliza- 
tion of America, even in its older districts, which supply 
the emigrants to the newer regions, is unequal ; one State 
possessing a higher level than another. Coming as it does 
from different parts of this vast country, the population 
of a new settlement, while it is singularly homogeneous 
for the circumstances, necessarily- brings with it its local 
peculiarities. If to these elements be added a sprinkling 
of Europeans of various nations and conditions, the effects 
of the commingling, and the temporary social struggles 
that follow, will occasion no surprise. 

The third and last condition of society, in a “ new coun- 
try,” is that in which the influence of the particular causes 
enumerated ceases, and men and things come within the 
control of more general and regular laws. The effect, of 
course, is to leave the community in possession of a civiliza- 
tion that conforms to that of the whole region, be it higher 
or be it lower, and with the division into castes that are 
more or less rigidly maintained, according to circumstances. 


i5 6 


HOME AS FOUND. 


The periods, as the astronomers call the time taken in a 
celestial revolution, of the two first of these epochs in the 
history of a settlement, depend very much on its advance- 
ment in wealth and in numbers. In some places, the pas- 
toral age, or that of good fellowship, continues for a whole 
life, to the obvious retrogression of the people in most of 
the higher qualities, but to their manifest advantage, how- 
ever, in the pleasures of the time being ; while, in others, 
it passes away rapid ly7*like the buoyant animal joys that 
live their time between fourteen and twenty. 

The second period is usually of longer duration, the 
migratory habits of the American people keeping society 
more unsettled than might otherwise prove to be the case. 
It may be said never to cease entirely, until the great ma- 
jority of the living generation are natives of the region, 
knowing no other means of comparison than those under 
which they have passed their days. Even when this is the 
case, there is commonly so large an infusion of the birds 
of passage, men who are adventurers in quest of advance- 
ment, and who live without the charities of a neighbor- 
hood, as they may be said almost to live without a home, 
that there is to be found for a long time a middle state of 
society, during which it may well be questioned whether a 
community belongs to the second or to the third of the 
periods named. 

Templeton was properly in this equivocal condition, for 
while the third generation of the old settlers were in ac- 
tive life, so many passers-by came and went, that the in- 
lluence of the latter nearly neutralized that of time and 
the natural order of things. Its population was pretty 
equally divided between the descendants of the earlier 
inhabitants and those who flitted like swallows and other 
migratory birds. All of those who had originally entered 
the region in the pride of manhood, and had been active 
in converting the wilderness into the abodes of civilized 
men, if they had not been literally gathered to their fathers 
in a physical sense, had been laid, the first of their several 
races, beneath those sods that were to cover the heads of 
so many of their descendants. A few still remained 
among those who entered the wilderness in young man- 
hood, but the events of the first period we have designated 
and which we have imperfectly recorded in another work, 


HOME AS FOUND . 


T 57 


were already passing into tradition. Among these origi- 
nal settlers some portion of the feeling that had distin- 
guished their earliest communion with their neighbors 
yet continued, and one of their greatest delights was to 
talk of the hardships and privations of their younger days, 
as the veteran loves to discourse of his marches, battles, 
scars, and sieges. It would be too much to say that these 
persons viewed the more ephemeral part of the population 
with distrust, for their familiarity with changes accus- 
tomed them to new faces ; but they had a secret inclina- 
tion for each other, preferred those who could enter the 
most sincerely into their own feelings, and naturally loved 
that communion best, where they found the most sympa- 
thy. To this fragment of the community belonged nearly 
all there was to be found of that sort of sentiment which 
is connected with locality ; adventure, with them, supply- 
ing the place of time ; while the natives of the spot, want- 
ing in the recollections that had so many charms for their 
fathers, were not yet brought sufficiently within the in- 
fluence of traditionary interest, to feel that hallowed sen- 
timent in its proper force. As opposed in feeling to these 
relics of the olden time were the birds of passage so often 
named, a numerous and restless class, that of themselves 
are almost sufficient to destroy whatever there is of poetry 
or of local attachment in any region where they resort. 

In Templeton and its adjacent district, however, the two 
hostile influences might be said to be nearly equal, the 
descendants of the fathers of the country beginning to 
make a manly stand against the looser sentiment, or the 
want of sentiment, that so singularly distinguishes the mi- 
gratory bands. The first did begin to consider the temple 
in which their fathers had worshipped more hallowed than 
strange altars ; the sods that covered their fathers’ heads 
more sacred than the clods that were upturned by the 
plough ; and the places of their childhood and childish 
sports dearer than the highway trodden by a nameless 
multitude. 

Such, then, were the elements of the society into which 
we have now ushered the reader, and with which it will be 
our duty to make him better acquainted, as we proceed in 
the regular narration of the incidents of our tale. 

The return of the Effinghams, after so long an absence, 


i5» 


HOME AS FOUND. 


naturally produced a sensation in so small a place, and 
visitors began to appear in the Wigwam as soon as pro- 
priety would allow. Many false rumors prevailed, quite 
as a matter of course ; and Eve, it was reported, was on 
the point of being married to no less than three of the in- 
mates of her father’s house, within the first ten days, viz., 
Sir George Templemore, Mr. Powis, and Mr. Bragg ; the 
latter story taking its rise in some precocious hopes that 
had escaped the gentleman himself, in the “ excitement ” 
of helping to empty a bottle of bad Breton wine, that was 
dignified with the name of champagne. But these tales 
revived and died so often, in a state of society in which 
matrimony is so general a topic with the young of the gen- 
tler sex, that they brought with them their own refutation. 

The third day, in particular, after the arrival of our par- 
ty, was a reception day at the Wigwam ; the gentlemen 
and ladies making it a point to be at home and disengaged, 
after twelve o’clock, in order to do honor to their guests. 
One of the first who made his appearance was a Mr. Howel, 
a bachelor of about the same age as Mr. Effingham, and a 
man of easy fortune and quiet habits. Nature had done 
more toward making Mr. Howel a gentleman, than either 
cultivation or association ; for he had passed his entire life, 
with very immaterial exceptions, in the'valley of Temple- 
ton, where, without being what could be called a student 
or a scholar, he had dreamed away his existence in an in- 
dolent communication with the current literature of the 
day. He was fond of reading, and being indisposed to con- 
tention or activity of any sort, his mind had admitted the 
impressions of what he perused, as the stone receives a 
new form by the constant fall of drops of water. Unfor- 
tunately for Mr. Howel, he understood no language but 
his mother tongue ; and, as all his reading was necessarily 
confined to English books, he had gradually, and unknown 
to himself, in his moral nature at least, got to be a mere 
reflection of those opinions, prejudices, and principles, if 
such a word can properly be used for such a state of the 
mind, that it had suited the interests or passions of Eng- 
land to promulgate by means of the press. A perfect bonne 
foi prevailed in all his notions ; and though a very modest 
man by nature, so very certain was he that his authority 
was always right, that he was a little apt to be dogmatical 


* HOME AS FOUND. 


159 


on such points as he thought his authors appeared to think 
settled. Between John Effingham and Mr. Howel, there 
were constant amicable skirmishes in the way of discus- 
sion ; for, while the latter was so dependent, limited in 
knowledge by unavoidable circumstances, and disposed to 
an innocent credulity, the first was original in his views, ac- 
customed to see and think for himself, and, moreover, a 
little apt to estimate his own advantages at their full value. 

“ Here comes our good neighbor, and my old schoolfel- 
low, Tom Howel,” said Mr. Effingham, looking out at a 
window, and perceiving the person mentioned crossing the 
little lawn in front of the house, by following a winding 
foot-path — “as kind-hearted a man, Sir George Temple- 
more, as exists ; one who is really American, for he has 
scarcely quitted the county half a dozen times in his life, 
and one of the honestest fellows of my acquaintance.” 

“Aye,” put in John Effingham, “ as real an American 
as any man can be, who uses English spectacles for all he 
looks at, English opinions for all he says, English prejudices 
for all he condemns, and an English palate for all he tastes. 
American, quotha ! The man is no more American than 
the Times newspaper, or Charing Cross ! He actually 
made a journey to New York, last war, to satisfy himself 
with his own eyes that a Yankee frigate had really brought 
an Englishman into port.” 

“ His English predilections wfill be no fault in my eyes,” 
said the baronet, smiling — “and I dare say we shall be ex- 
cellent friends.” 

“ I am sure Mr. Howel is a very agreeable man,” added 
Grace ; “of all in your Templeton coterie , he is my greatest 
favorite.” 

“ Oh ! I foresee a tender intimacy between Templemore 
and Howel,” rejoined John Effingham ; “ and sundry wordy 
wars between the latter and Miss Effingham.” 

“ In this you do me injustice, cousin Jack. I remember 
Mr. Howel well, and kindly; for he was ever wont to in- 
dulge my childish whims when a girl.” 

“ The man is a second Burchell, and, I dare say, never 
came to the Wigwam when you were a child, without hav- 
ing his pockets stuffed with cakes or bonbons.” 

The meeting was cordial, Mr. Howel greeting the gen- 
tlemen like a warm friend, and expressing great delight at 


i6o 


HOME AS FOUND: 


the personal improvements that had been made in Eve 
between the ages of eight and twenty. John Effingham 
was no more backward than the others, for he, too, liked 
their simple-minded, kind-hearted, but credulous neigh- 
bor. 

“Youare welcome back — you are welcome back,” added 
Mr. Howel, blowing his nose in order to conceal the tears 
that were gathering in his eyes. “ I did think of going 
to New York to meet you, but the distance at my time of 
life is very serious. Age, gentlemen, seems to be a stranger 
to you.” 

“And yet we, who are both a few months older than 
yourself, Howel,” returned Mr. Effingham, kindly, “ have 
managed to overcome the distance you have just mentioned 
in order to come and see you ! ” 

“ Aye, you are great travellers, gentlemen, very great 
travellers, and are accustomed to motion. Been quite as 
far as Jerusalem, I hear! ” 

“ Into its very gates, my good friend ; and I wish, with 
all my heart, we had had you in our company. Such a 
journey might cure you of the home malady.” 

“ I am a fixture, and never expect to look upon the ocean 
now. I did, at one period of my life, fancy such an event 
might happen, but I have finally abandoned all hope on 
that subject. Well, Miss Eve, of all the countries in which 
you have dwelt, to which do you give the preference ? ” 

“ I think Italy is the general favorite,” Eve answered, 
with a friendly smile ; “ although there are some agree- 
able things peculiar to almost every country.” 

“ Italy ! — Well, that astonishes me a good deal ! I never 
knew there was anything particularly interesting about 
Italy ! I should have expected you to say England.” 

“ England is a fine country, too, certainly ; but it wants 
many things that Italy enjoys.” 

“Well, now, what?” said Mr. Howel, shifting his legs 
from one knee to the other, in order to be more convenient 
to listen, or, if necessary, to object. “ What can Italy pos- 
sess, that England does not enjoy in a still greater degree ? ” 

“ Its recollections, for one thing, and all that interest 
which time and great events throw around a region.” 

“ And is England wanting in recollections and great 
events ? Are there not the Conqueror ? or if you will, 


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161 


King Alfred, and Queen Elizabeth, and Shakespeare — think 
of Shakespeare, young lady — and Sir Walter Scott, and the 
Gunpowder Plot ; and Cromwell, Oliver Cromwell, my 
dear Miss Eve; and Westminster Abbey, and London 
Bridge, and George IV., the descendant of a line of real 
kings. What in the name of Heaven can Italy possess to 
equal the interest one feels in such things as these ?” 

“They are very interesting, no doubt,” said Eve, endeav- 
oring not to smile — “but Italy has its relics of former ages 
too ; you forget the Caesars.” 

“ Very good sort of persons for barbarous times, I dare 
say, but what can they be to the English monarchs ? I 
would rather look upon a bona fide English king, than see 
all the Qaesars that ever lived. I never can think any man 
a real king but the king of England.” 

“ Not King Solomon ?” cried John Effingham. 

“ Oh ! he was a Bible king, and one never thinks of 
them. Italy ! well, this I did not expect from your father’s 
daughter! Your great-great-great-grandfather must have 
been an Englishman born, Mr. Effingham ? ” 

“ I have reason to think he was, sir.” 

“And Milton, and Dryden, and Newton, and Locke! 
These are prodigious names, and worth all the Caesars put 
together. A Pope, too ; what have they got in Italy to 
compare to Pope ? ” 

“They have at least the Pope,” said Eve, laughing. 

“ And then there are the Boar’s Head in East Cheap ; 
and the Tower ; and Queen Anne, and all the wits of her 
reign ; and — and — and Titus Oates ; and Bosworth Field ; 
and Smithfield, where the martyrs were burned, and a thou- 
sand more spots and persons of intense interest in Old Eng- 
land ! ” 

“ Quite true,” said John Effingham, with an air of sympa- 
thy— “ but, Howel, you have forgotten Peeping Tom of 
Coventry, and the climate ! ” 

“ And Holyrood House, and York Minster, and St. 
Paul’s,” continued the worthy Mr. Howel, too much bent 
on a catalogue of excellences that to him were sacred, to 
heed the interruption ; “ and above all Windsor Castle. 
What is there in the world to equal Windsor Castle as a 
royal residence ? ” 

Want of breath now gave Eve an opportunity to reply, 


ii 


162 


HOME AS FOUND. 


and she seized it with an eagerness that she was the first to 
laugh at herself afterward. 

“Caserta is no mean house, Mr. Howel ; and in my poor 
judgment, there is more real magnificence in its great stair- 
case than in all Windsor Castle united, if you except the 
chapel.” 

“But St. Paul’s.’' 

“ Why, St. Peter’s may be set down quite fairly, I think, 
for its pendant at least.” 

“True, the Catholics do say so,” returned Mr. Howel, 
with the deliberation one uses when he greatly distrusts his 
own concession ; “but I have alw T ays considered it one of 
their frauds. I don’t think there can be anything finer than 
St. Paul’s. Then there are the noble ruins of England ! 
They, you must admit, are unrivalled.” 

“ The Temple of Neptune, at Paestum, is commonly 
thought an interesting ruin, Mr. Howel.” 

“ Yes, yes, for a temple, I dare say ; though I do not re- 
member to have ever heard of it before. But no temple 
can ever compare to a ruined abbey.” 

“ Taste is an arbitrary thing, Tom Howel, as you and I 
know when, as boys, we quarrelled about the beauty of our 
ponies,” said Mr. Effingham, willing to put an end to a dis- 
cussion that he thought a little premature after so long an 
absence. “ Here are two young friends who shared the 
hazards of our late passage with us, and to whom in a great 
degree we owe our present happy security, and I am anx- 
ious to make you acquainted with them. This is our coun- 
tryman, Mr. Powis, and this is an English friend, who I am 
certain will be happy to know so warm an admirer of his 
own country — Sir George Templemore.” 

Mr. Howel had never before seen a titled Englishman, 
and he was taken so much by surprise that he made his sal- 
utations rather awkwardly. As both the young men, how- 
ever, met him with the respectful ease that denotes famili- 
arity with the world, he soon recovered his self-possession. 

“ I hope you have brought back with you a sound Amer- 
ican heart, Miss Eve,” resumed the guest, as soon as this 
little interruption had ceased. “We have had sundry ru- 
mors of French marquises and German barons ; but I have 
all along trusted too much to your patriotism to believe 
you w T ould marry a foreigner.” 


NOME AS FOUND. 


163 

I hope you except Englishmen,” cried Sir George, gayly ; 
“ we are almost the same people.” 

“ I am proud to hear you say so, sir. Nothing flatters 
me more than to be thought English ; and I certainly should 
not have accused Miss Effingham of a want of love of 
country, had ” 

“ She married half-a-dozen Englishmen,” interrupted 
John Effingham, who saw that the old theme was in danger 
of being revived. “ But, Howel, you have paid me no com- 
pliments on the changes in the house. 1 hope they are to 
your taste.” 

“A little too French, Mr. John.” 

“ French ! There is not a French feature in the whole 
animal. What has put such a notion into your head?” 

“ It is the common opinion, and I confess I should like 
the building better were it less continental.” 

“ Why, my old friend, it is a nondescript-original -sr 
Effingham upon Doolittle, if you will ; and, as for models, 
it is rather more English than anything else.” 

“Well, Mr. John, I am glad to hear this, for I do confess 
to a disposition rather to like the house. I am dying to 
know, Miss Eve, if you saw all our distinguished contem- 
poraries when in Europe ? That to me would be one of 
the greatest delights of travelling ! ” 

“ To say that we saw them all, might be too much ; though 
we certainly did meet with many.” 

“ Scott, of course.” 

“ Sir Walter we had the pleasure of meeting a few times, 
in London.” 

“And Southey, and Coleridge, and Wordsworth, and 
Moore, and Bulwer, and D’Israeli,and Rogers, and Camp- 
bell, and the grave of Byron, and Horace Smith, and Miss 
Landon, and Barry Cornwall, and ” 

“ Cum multis aliis ,” put in John Effingham, again, by 
way of arresting the torrent of names. “ Eve saw many 
of these, and, as Tubal told Shylock, ‘we often came 
where we did hear ’ of the rest. But you say nothing, 
friend Tom, of Goethe, and Tieck, and Schlegel and La- 
martine, Chateaubriand, Hugo, Delavigne, Mickiewicz, 
Nota, Manzoni, Niccolini, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc.” 

Honest, well-meaning Mr. Howel listened to the cata- 
logue that the other ran volubly over, in silent wonder ; 


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HOME AS FOUND. 


for, with the exception of one or two of these distinguished 
men, he had never even heard of them ; and, in the sim- 
plicity of his heart, unconsciously to himself, he had got 
to believe that there was no great personage still living 
of whom he did not know something. 

“Ah, here comes young Wenham, by way of preserving 
the equilibrium,” resumed John Effingham, looking out 
of a window. “ I rather think you must have forgotten 
him, Ned, though you remember his father, beyond ques- 
tion.” 

Mr. Effingham and his cousin went out into the hall to 
receive the new guest, with whom the latter had become ac- 
quainted while superintending the repairs of the Wigwam. 

Mr. Wenham was the son of a successful lawyer in the 
county, and, being an only child, he had also succeeded 
to an easy independence. His age, however, brought 
him rather into the generation to which Eve belonged, 
than into that of the father; and, if Mr. Howel was a re- 
flection, or rather a continuation, of all the provincial 
notions that America entertained of England forty years 
ago, Mr. Wenham might almost be said to belong to the 
opposite school, and to be as ultra-American as his neigh- 
bor was ultra-British. If there is la jeune France , there is 
also la jeune Amerique , although the votaries of the latter 
march with less hardy steps than the votaries of the first. 
Mr. Wenham fancied himself a paragon of national inde- 
pendence, and was constantly talking of American excel- 
lences, though the ancient impressions still lingered in his 
moral system, as men look askance for the ghosts which 
frightened their childhood on crossing a churchyard in 
the dark. John Effingham knew the penchant of the 
young man, and when he said that he came happily to 
preserve the equilibrium, he alluded to this striking dif- 
ference in the characters of their two friends. 

The introductions and salutations over, we shall resume 
the conversation that succeeded in the drawing-room. 

“ You must be much gratified, Miss Effingham,” ob- 
served Mr. Wenham, who, like a true American, being a 
young man himself, supposed it de rigueur to address a 
young lady in preference to any other present, “with 
the great progress made by our country since you went 
abroad.” 


HOME AS FOUND . 


165 

Eve simply answered that her extreme youth, when she 
left home, had prevented her from retaining any precise 
notions on such subjects. 

“ I dare say it is all very true,” she added, “but one, 
like myself, who remembers only older countries, is, I 
think, a little more apt to be struck with the deficiencies 
than with what may, in truth, be improvements, though 
they still fall short of excellence.” 

Mr. Wenham looked vexed, or indignant would be a 
better word, but he succeeded in preserving his coolness 
— a thing that is not always easy to one of provincial hab- 
its and provincial education, when he finds his own beau- 
ideal lightly estimated by others. 

“Miss Effingham must discover a thousand imperfec- 
tions,” said Mr. Howel, “ corning, as she does, directly from 
England. That music, now ” — alluding to the sounds of a 
flute that were heard through the open windows, coming 
from the adjacent village — “ must be rude enough to her 
ear, after the music of London.” 

“ The street music of London is certainly among the 
best, if not the very best, in Europe,” returned Eve, with 
a glance of the eye at the baronet, that caused him to smile, 
“ and I think this fairly belongs to the class, being so free- 
ly given to the neighborhood.” 

“ Have you read the articles signed Minerva, in the Heb- 
domad, Miss Effingham?” inquired Mr. Wenham, who 
was determined to try the young lady on a point of senti- 
ment, having succeeded so ill in his first attempt to inter- 
est her. “They are generally thought to be a great acquisi- 
tion to American literature.” 

“Well, Wenham, you are a fortunate man,” interposed 
Mr. Howel, “if you can find any literature in America to 
add to or subtract from. Beyond almanacs, reports of 
cases badly got up, and newspaper verses, I know nothing 
that deserves such a name.” 

“ We may not print on as fine paper, Mr. Howel, or do 
up the books in as handsome binding as other people,” 
said Mr. Wenham, bridling and looking grave, “ but so far 
as sentiments are concerned, or sound sense, American lit- 
erature need turn its back on no literature of the day.” 

“ By the way, Mr. Effingham, you were in Russia ; did 
you happen to see the Emperor ?” 


i66 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“ I had that pleasure, Mr. Howel.” 

“ And is he really the monster we have been taught to 
believe him ? ” 

“ Monster ! ” exclaimed the upright Mr. Effingham, fairly 
recoiling a step in surprise. “ In what sense a monster, 
my worthy friend ? Surely not in a physical ? ” 

“ I do not know that. I have somehow got the notion 
he is anything but handsome. A mean butchering, bloody- 
minded looking little chap, I’ll engage.” 

“You are libelling one of the finest-looking men of the 
age.” 

“ I think I would submit it to a jury. I cannot believe, 
after what I have read of him in the English publications, 
that he is so very handsome.” 

“ But, my good neighbor, these English publications 
must be wrong ; prejudiced perhaps, or even malig- 
nant.” 

“ Oh ! I am not the man to be imposed on in that way. 
Besides, what motive could an English writer have for bely- 
ing an Emperor of Russia?” 

“ Sure enough, what motive!” exclaimed John Effing- 
ham. “ You have your answer, Ned ! ” 

“But you will remember, Mr. Howel,” Eve interposed, 
“ that we have seen the Emperor Nicholas.” 

“ I dare say, Miss Eve, that your gentle nature was dis- 
posed to judge him as kindly as possible ; and then, I think 
most Americans, ever since the treaty of Ghent, have been 
disposed to view all Russians too favorably. No, no ; I am 
satisfied with the account of the English ; they live much 
nearer to St. Petersburg than we do, and they are more 
accustomed, too, to give accounts of such matters.” 

“But living nearer, Tom Howel,” cried Mr. Effingham, 
with unusual animation, “in such a case, is of no avail, un- 
less one lives near enough to see with his own eves.” 

“Well— well — my good friend, we will talk of this an- 
other time. I know your disposition to look at everybody 
with lenient eyes. I will now wish you all a good morn- 
ing, and hope soon to see you again. Miss Eve, I have 
one word to say, if you dare trust yourself with a youth of 
fifty for a minute in the library.” 

Eve rose cheerfully, and led the way to the room her 
father’s visitor had named. When within it, Mr. Howel 


HOME AS FOUND. 167 

shut the door carefully, and then with a sort of eager de- 
light, he exclaimed : 

“ For Heaven’s sake, my dear young lady, tell me who 
are these two strange gentlemen in the other room.” 

“ Precisely the persons my father mentioned, Mr. Howel ; 
Mr. Paul Powis and Sir George Templemore.” 

“ Englishmen, of course ! ” 

“ Sir George Templemore is, of course, as you say, but 
we may boast of Mr. Powis as a countryman.” 

“ Sir George Templemore ! What a superb-looking 
young fellow ! ” 

“Why, yes,” returned Eve, laughing ; “he, at least, you 
will admit is a handsome man.” 

“ He is wonderful ! The other, Mr.-a-a-a — I forget w T hat 
you called him — he is pretty well too ; but this Sir George 
is a princely youth.” 

“ I rather think a majority of observers would give the 
preference to the appearance of Mr. Powis,” said Eve, 
struggling to be steady, but permitting a blush to heighten 
her color, in spite of the effort. 

“ What could have induced him to come up among these 
mountains— an English baronet ! ” resumed Mr. Howel, 
without thinking of Eve’s confusion. “ Is he a real lord ?” 

“ Only a little one, Mr. Howel. You heard what my 
father said of our having been fellow-travellers.” 

“ But what does he think of us ? I am dying to know 
what such a man really thinks of us.” 

“It is not always easy to discover what such men really 
think ; although I am inclined to believe that he is disposed 
to think rather favorably of some of us.” 

“Aye, of you, and your father, and Mr. John. You have 
travelled, and are more than half European ; but what can 
he think of those who have never left America ?” 

“ Even of some of those,” returned Eve, smiling, “ I sus- 
pect he thinks partially.” 

“Well, I am glad of that. Do you happen to know his 
opinion of the Emperor Nicholas ?” 

“ Indeed I do not remember to have heard him mention 
the Emperor’s name ; nor do I think he has ever seen 
him.” 

“That is extraordinary! Such a man should have seen 
everything, and know everything ; but I’ll engage, at the 


HOME AS FOUND. 


1 68 

bottom, he does know all about him. If you happen to have 
any old English newspapers, as wrappers, or by any other 
accident, let me beg them of you. I care not how old they 
are. An English journal fifty years old is more interesting 
than one of ours wet from the press,” 

Eve promised to send him a package, when they shook 
hands and parted. As she was crossing the hall, to rejoin 
the party, John Effingham stopped her. 

“ Has Howel made proposals ? ” the gentleman inquired, 
in an affected whisper. 

“None, Cousin Jack, beyond an offer to read the old 
English newspapers I can send him.” 

“ Yes, yes, Tom Howel will swallow all the nonsense 
that is timbre a Londres” 

“ I confess a good deal of surprise at finding a respecta- 
ble and intelligent man so weak-minded as to give credit 
to such authorities, or to form his serious opinions on infor- 
mation derived from such sources.” 

“ You may be surprised, Eve, at hearing so frank avowals 
of the weakness; but, as for the weakness itself, you are 
now in a country for which England does all the think- 
ing, except on subjects that touch the current interests of 
the day.” 

“ Nay, I will not believe this ! If it were true, how 
came we independent of her — where did we get spirit to 
war against her ? ” 

“ The man who has attained his majority is independent 
of his father’s legal control, without being independent of 
the lessons he was taught when a child. The soldier some- 
times mutinies, and after the contest is over, he is usually 
the most submissive man of the regiment.” 

“All this to me is very astonishing ! I confess that a 
great deal has struck me unpleasantly in this way, since 
our return, especially in ordinary society ; but I never 
could have supposed it had reached to the pass in which 
I see it existing in our good neighbor Howel.” 

“You have witnessed one of the effects, in a matter of 
no great moment to ourselves ; but, as time and years af- 
ford the means of observation and comparison, you will 
perceive the effects in matters of the last moment, in a na- 
tional point of view. It is in human nature to undervalue 
the things with which we are familiar, and to form false 


HOME AS FOUXD . 


169 


estimates of those which are remote, either by time or by 
distance. But, go into the drawing-room, and in young 
Wenham you will find one who fancies himself a votary 
of a new school, although his prejudices and mental de- 
pendence are scarcely less obvious than those of poor 
Tom Howel.” 

The arrival of more company, among whom were sev- 
eral ladies, compelled Eve to defer an examination of Mr. 
Wenham’s peculiarities to another opportunity. She 
found many of her own sex, whom she had left children, 
grown into womanhood, and not a few of them at a period 
of life when they should be cultivating their physical and 
moral powers, already oppressed with the cares and fee- 
bleness that weigh so heavily on the young American wife. 


CHAPTER XIII. 

“Nay we must longer kneel ; I am a suitor.” 

Queen Katherine. 

The Effinghams were soon regularly domesticated, and 
the usual civilities had been exchanged. Many of their 
old friends resumed their ancient intercourse, and some 
new acquaintances were made. The few first visits were, 
as usual, rather labored and formal ; but things soon took 
their natural course, and, 'as the ease of country life was 
the aim of the family, the temporary little bustle was 
quickly forgotten. 

The dressing-room of Eve overlooked the lake, and, 
about a week after her arrival, she was seated in it enjoy- 
ing that peculiarly ladylike luxury, which is to be found 
in the process of having another gently disposing of the 
hair. Annette wielded the comb, as usual, while Ann 
Sidley, who was unconsciously jealous that anyone should 
be employed about her darling, even in this manner, 
though so long accustomed to it, busied herself in pre- 
paring the different articles of attire that she fancied her 
young mistress might be disposed to wear that morning. 
Grace was also in the room, having escaped from the 
hands of her own maid, in order to look into one of those 


170 


HOME AS FOUND. 


books which professed to give an account of the extraction 
and families of the higher classes of Great Britain, a copy 
of which Eve happened to possess, among a large collec- 
tion of books, Almanachs de Gotha, Court Guides, and 
other similar works that she had found it convenient to 
possess as a traveller. 

“Ah! here it is,” said Grace, in the eagerness of one 
who is suddenly successful after a long and vexatious 
search. 

“ Here is what, coz ? ” 

Grace colored, and she could have bitten her tongue for 
its indiscretion, but, too ingenuous to deceive, she reluct- 
antly told the truth. 

“ I was merely looking for the account of Sir George 
Templemore’s family ; it is awkward to be domesticated 
with one of whose family we are utterly ignorant.” 

“ Have you found the name ? ” 

“Yes ; I see he has two sisters, both of whom are mar- 
ried, and a brother who is in the Guards. But ” 

“ But what, dear ? ” 

“ His title is not so very old.” 

“The title of no baronet can be very old, the order hav- 
ing been instituted in the reign of James I.” 

“ I did not know that. His ancestor was created a bar- 
onet in 1701, I see. Now, Eve ” 

“ Now, what, Grace ?” 

“We are both — ” Grace would not confine the remark 
to herself — “ we are both of older families than this ! You 
have even a much higher English extraction ; and I think 
I can claim for the Van Cortlandts more antiquity than one 
that dates from 1701 ! ” 

“ No one doubts it, Grace ; but what do you wish me to 
understand by this ? Are we to insist on preceding Sir 
George, in going through a door ? ” 

Grace blushed to the eyes, and yet she laughed involun- 
tarily. 

“What nonsense! No one thinks of such things in 
America.” 

“ Except at Washington, where, I am told, ‘ Senators’ 
ladies' do give themselves airs. But you are quite right, 
Grace ; women have no rank in America, beyond their 
general social rank as ladies or no ladies, and we will not 


HOME AS FOUND . 


171 

be the first to set an example of breaking the rule. I am 
afraid our blood will pass for nothing, and that we must 
give place to the baronet, unless, indeed, he recognizes the 
rights of the sex.” 

“ You know I mean nothing so silly. Sir George Tem- 
plemore does not seem to think of rank at all ; even Mr. 
Powis treats him in all respects as an equal, and Sir 
George seems to admit it to be right.” 

Eve’s maid, at the moment, was twisting her hair, with 
the intention to put it up ; but the sudden manner in 
which her young mistress turned to look at Grace, caused 
Annette to relinquish her grasp, and the shoulders of the 
beautiful and blooming girl were instantly covered with 
the luxuriant tresses. 

“ And why should not Mr. Powis treat Sir George Tem- 
plemore as one everyway his equal, Grace ?” she asked, 
with an impetuosity unusual in one so trained in the forms 
of the world. 

“ Why, Eve, one is a baronet, and the other is but a sim- 
ple gentleman.” 

Eve Effingham sat silent for quite a minute. Her little 
foot moved, and she had been carefully taught, too, that a 
ladv-like manner required that even this beautiful portion 
of the female frame should be quiet and unobtrusive. But 
America did not contain two of the same sex, years, and 
social condition, less alike in their opinions, or it might be 
said their prejudices, than the two cousins. Grace Van 
Cortlandt, of the best blood of her native land, had uncon- 
sciously imbibed in childhood the notions connected with 
hereditary rank, through the traditions of colonial man- 
ners, by means of novels, by hearing the vulgar reproached 
or condemned for their obtrusion and ignorance, and too 
often justly reproached and condemned, and by the aid of 
her imagination, which contributed to throw a gloss and 
brilliancy over a state of things that singularly gains by 
distance. On the other hand, with Eve, everything con- 
nected with such subjects was a matter of fact. She had 
been thrown early into the highest associations of Europe ; 
she had not only seen royalty on its days of gala and rep- 
resentation, a mere raree-show that is addressed to the 
senses, or purely an observance of forms that may possibly 
have their meaning, but which can scarcely be said to have 


IJ2 


HOME AS FOUND. 


their reasons ; but she had lived long and intimately 
among the high-born and great, and this, too, in so many 
different countries, as to have destroyed the influence of 
the particular nation that has transmitted so many of its 
notions to America as heir-looms. By close observation, 
she knew that arbitrary and political distinctions made 
but little difference between men of themselves ; and so 
far from having become the dupe of the glitter of life, by 
living so long within its immediate influence, she had 
learned to discriminate between the false and the real, and 
to perceive that which was truly respectable and useful, 
and to know it from that which was merely arbitrary and 
selfish. Eve actually fancied that the position of an Amer- 
ican gentleman might readily become, nay, that it ought 
to be, the highest of all human stations, short of that of 
sovereigns. Such a man had no social superior, with the 
exception of those who actually ruled, in her eyes ; and 
this fact she conceived, rendered him more than noble, as 
nobility is usually graduated. She had been accustomed to 
see her father and John Effingham moving in the best cir- 
cles of Europe, respected for their information and inde- 
pendence, undistinguished by their manners, admired for 
their personal appearance, manly, courteous, and of noble 
bearing and principles, if not set apart from the rest of 
mankind by an arbitrary rule connected with rank. Rich, 
and possessing all the habits that properly mark refinement, 
of gentle extraction, of liberal attainments, walking abroad 
in the dignity of manhood, and with none between them 
and the Deity, Eve had learned to regard the gentlemen 
of her race as the equals in station of any of their Euro- 
pean associates, and as the superiors of most, in every- 
thing that is essential to true distinction. With her, even 
titular princes and dukes had no estimation, merely as 
princes and dukes ; and, as her quick mind glanced over the 
long catalogue of artificial social gradations, and she found 
Grace actually attaching*an importance to the equivocal 
and purely conventional condition of an English baronet, a 
strong sense of the ludicrous connected itself with the idea. 

“ A simple gentleman, Grace ? ” she repeated slowly after 
her cousin ; “ and is not a simple gentleman, a simple 
American gentleman, the equal of any gentleman on earth 
— of a poor baronet in particular ?” 


HOME AS FOUND . 


173 


“ Poor baronet, Eve ! ” 

“Yes, dear, poor baronet ; I know fully the extent and 
meaning of what I say. It is true, we do not know as 
much of Mr. Powis’ family,” and here Eve’s color height- 
ened, though she made a mighty effort to be steady and 
unmoved, “ as we might ; but we know he is an American ; 
that, at least, is something ; and we see he is a gentleman ; 
and what American gentleman, a real American gentleman, 
can be the inferior of an English baronet ? Would your 
uncle, think you ; would Cousin Jack ; proud, lofty-minded 
Cousin Jack, think you, Grace, consent to receive so pal- 
try a distinction as a baronetcy, were our institutions to be 
so far altered a.s to admit of such social classifications ?” 

“ Why, what would they be, Eve, if not baronets ?” 

“ Earls, counts, dukes, nay, princes ! These are the des- 
ignations of the higher classes of Europe, and such titles, 
or those that are equivalent, would belong to the higher 
classes here.” 

“ I fancy that Sir George Templemore would not be 
persuaded to admit all this ! ” 

“ If you had seen Miss Eve surrounded and admired by 
princes, as I have seen her, Miss Grace, ” said Ann Sidley, 
“ you would not think any simple Sir George half good 
enough for her.” 

“Our good Nanny means a Sir George,” interrupted 
Eve, laughing, “and not the Sir George in question. But, 
seriously, dearest coz, it depends more on ourselves, and 
less on others, in what light they are to regard us, than is 
commonly supposed. Do you not suppose there are fam- 
ilies in America who, if disposed to raise any objections 
beyond those that are purely personal, would object to 
baronets, and the wearers of red ribbons, as unfit matches 
for their daughters, on the ground of rank ? What an ab- 
surdity would it be for a Sir George, or the Sir George 
either, to object to a daughter of a President of the 
United States, for instance, on account of station ; and yet 
I’ll answer for it, you would think it no personal honor, if 
Mr. Jackson had a son, that he should propose to my dear 
father for you. Let us respect ourselves properly, take 
care to be truly ladies and gentlemen, and so far from tit- 
ular ranks- being necessary to us, before a hundred lustra 
are past we shall bring all such distinctions into discredit, 


i 7 4 


HOME AS FOUND. 


. by showing that they are not necessary to anyone impor- 
tant interest, or to true happiness and respectability any- 
where.” 

“ And do you not believe, Eve, that Sir George Temple- 
more thinks of the difference in station between us?” 

“I cannot answer for that,” said Eve, calmly. “The 
man is naturally modest; and, it is possible, when he sees 
that we belong to the highest social condition of a great 
country, he may regret that such has not been his own 
good fortune in his native land ; especially, Grace, since he 
has known you.” 

Grace blushed, looked pleased, delighted even, yet sur- 
prised. It is unnecessary to explain the causes of the first 
three expressions of her emotions, but the last may require 
a short examination. Nothing but time and a change of 
circumstances can ever raise a province, or a provincial 
town, to the independent state of feeling that so strikingly 
distinguishes a metropolitan country or a capital. It would 
be as rational to expect that the inhabitants of the nursery 
should disregard the opinions of the drawing-room, as to 
believe that the provincial should do all his own thinking. 
Political dependency, moreover, is much more easily thrown 
aside than mental dependency. It is not surprising, there- 
fore, that Grace Van Cortlandt, with her narrow associa- 
tions, general notions of life, origin, and provincial habits, 
should be the very opposite of Eve, in all that relates to 
independence of thought, on subjects like those that they 
were now discussing. Had Grace been a native of New 
•England, even, she would have been less influenced by the 
mere social rank of the baronet than was actually the case ; 
for, while the population of that part of the Union feel 
more of the general subserviency to Great Britain than the 
population of any other portion of the republic, they prob- 
ably feel less of it,' in this particular form, from the circum- 
stance that their colonial habits were less connected with 
the aristocratical usages of the mother country. Grace 
was allied by blood, too, with the higher classes of England, 
as indeed was the fact with most of the old families among 
the New York gentry; and the traditions of her race came 
in aid of the traditions of her colony, to continue the pro- 
found deference she felt for an English title. Eve might 
have been equally subjected to the same feelings, had she 


HOME AS FOUND. 


T 75 


not been removed into another sphere at so early a period 
of life, where she imbibed the notions already mentioned 
— notions that were quite as effectually rooted in her moral 
system, as those of Grace herself could be in her own. 

“This is a strange way of viewing the rank of a baronet, 
Eve ! ” Grace exclaimed, as soon as she had a little recov- 
ered from the confusion caused by the personal allusion. 
“ I greatly question if you can induce Sir George Temple- 
more to see his own position with your eyes.” 

“ Np, my dear ; I think he will be much more likely to 
regard not only that, but most other things, with the eyes 
of another person. We will now talk of more agreeable 
things, however ; for I confess, when I do dwell on titles, 
I have a taste for the more princely appellations ; and that 
a simple chevalier can scarce excite a feeling that such is 
the theme.” 

“ Nay, Eve,” interrupted Grace, with spirit, “ an English 
baronet is noble. Sir George Templemore assured me that 
as lately as last evening. The heralds, I believe, have quite 
recently established that fact to their own satisfaction.” 

“ I am glad of it, dear,” returned Eve, with difficulty re- 
fraining from gaping, “as it will be of great importance to 
them in their own eyes. At all events, I concede that Sir 
George Templemore, knight or baronet, big baron or little 
baron, is a noble fellow ; and what more can any reasonable 
person desire ? Do you know, sweet coz, that the Wigwam 
will be full to overflowing next week ? that it will be nec- 
essary to light our council-fire, and to smoke the pipe of 
many welcomes ? ” 

“ I have understood Mr. Powis, that his kinsman, Cap- 
tain Ducie, will arrive on Monday.” 

“And Mrs. Hawker will come on Tuesday, Mr. and Mrs. 
Bloomfield on Wednesday, and honest, brave, straightfor- 
ward, literati-hating Captain Truck on Thursday at the 
latest. We shall have a large country circle, and I hear 
the gentlemen talking of the boats and other amusements. 
But I believe my father has a consultation in the library, 
at which he wishes us to be present ; we will join him if 
you please.” 

As Eve’s toilette was now completed, the two ladies rose, 
and descended together to join the party below. Mr. 
Effingham was standing at a table that was covered with 


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HOME AS FOUND. 


maps ; while two or three respectable-looking men, master 
mechanics, were at his side. The manners of these men 
were quiet, civil, and respectful, having a mixture of manly 
simplicity with a proper deference for the years and station 
of the master of the house ; though all but one wore their 
hats. The one who formed the exception had become re- 
fined by a long intercourse with this particular family ; and 
his acquired taste had taught him that respect for himself, 
as well as for decency, rendered it necessary to observe the 
long-established rules of decorum in his intercourse with 
others. His companions, though without a particle of 
coarseness, or any rudeness of intention, were legs deco- 
rous, simply from a . loose habit, that is insensibly taking 
the place of the ancient laws of propriety in such matters, 
and which habit, it is to be feared, has a part of its origin 
in false and impracticable political notions, that have been 
stimulated by the arts of demagogues. Still not one of the 
three hard-working, really civil, and even humane men, 
who now stood covered in the library of Mr. Efiingham, 
was probably conscious of the impropriety of which he was 
guilty, or was doing more than insensibly yielding to a 
vicious and vulgar practice. 

“ I am glad you have come, my love,” said Mr. Effingham, 
as his daughter entered the room, “ for I find J need sup- 
port in maintaining my own opinions here. John is obsti- 
nately silent ; and as for all these other gentlemen, I fear 
they have decidedly taken sides against me.” 

“You can usually count on my support, dearest father, 
feeble as it may be. But what is the disputed point to- 
day ? ” 

“There is a proposition to alter the interior of the church, 
and our neighbor Gouge has brought the plans on which, 
as he says, he has lately altered several churches in the 
country. The idea is, to remove the pews entirely, con- 
verting them into what are called 4 slips,’ to lower the pul- 
pit, and to raise the floor amphitheatre fashion.” 

“ Can there be a sufficient reason for this change ?” de- 
manded Eve, with surprise. “ Slips ! The word has a vul- 
gar sound even, and savors of a useless innovation. I 
doubt its orthodoxy.” 

“ It is very popular, Miss Eve,” answered Aristabulus, 
advancing from the window, where he had been whispering 


HOME AS FOUND. 


1 77 


assent. “ This fashion takes universally, and is getting to 
prevail in all denominations.” 

Eve turned involuntarily, and to her surprise she per- 
ceived that the editor of the Active Inquirer was added to 
their party. The salutations on the part of the young lady 
were distant and stately, while Mr. Dodge, who had not 
been able to resist public opinion, and had actually parted 
with his mustachios, simpered, and wished to have it under- 
stood by the spectators that he was on familiar terms with 
all the family. 

“ It may be popular, Mr. Bragg,” returned Eve, as soon 
as she rose from her profound courtesy to Mr. Dodge ; “but 
it can scarcely be said to be seemly. This is, indeed, chang- 
ing the order of things, by elevating the sinner and depress- 
ing the saint.” 

“You forget, Miss Eve, that under the old plan the peo- 
ple could not see ; they were kept unnaturally down, if one 
can so express it, while nobody had a good look-out but 
the parson and the singers in the front row of the gallery. 
This was unjust.” 

“ I do not conceive, sir, that a good look-out, as you term 
it, is at all essential to devotion, or that one cannot as well 
listen to instruction when beneath the teacher, as when 
above him.” 

“ Pardon me, miss ; ” Eve recoiled, as she always did, 
when Mr. Bragg used this vulgar and contemptuous mode 
of address ; “ we put nobody up or down ; all we aim at is 
a just equality — to place all, as near as possible, on a 
level.” 

Eve gazed about her in wonder ; and then she hesitated 
a moment, as if distrusting her ears. 

“ Equality ! Equality with what ? Surely not with the 
ordained ministers of the church, in the performance of 
their sacred duties ! Surely not with the Deity ! ” 

“We do not look at it exactly in this light, ma’am. The 
people build the church, that you will allow* Miss Effing- 
ham ; even you will allow this, Mr. Effingham.” 

Both the parties appealed to bowed a simple assent to 
so plain a proposition, but neither spoke. 

“ Well, the people building the church, very naturally 
ask themselves for what purpose it was built ?” 

“ For the worship of God,” returned Eve, with a steady 


12 


1 7 S 


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solemnity of manner that a little abashed even the ordina- 
rily indomitable and self-composed Aristabulus. 

“Yes, miss ; for the worship of God and the accommo- 
dation of the public.” 

“Certainly,” added Mr. Dodge ; “for the public accom- 
modation and for public worship,” laying due emphasis on 
the adjectives. 

“ Father, you, at least, will never consent to this? ” 

“Not readily, my love. I confess it shocks all my notions 
of propriety to see the sinner, even when he professes to 
be the most humble and penitent, thrust himself up osten- 
tatiously, as if filled only with his own self-love and self- 
importance.” 

“You will allow, Mr. Effingham,” rejoined Aristabulus, 
“ that churches are built to accommodate the public, as Mr. 
Dodge has so well remarked.” 

“ No, sir, they are built for the worship of God, as my 
daughter has so well remarked.” 

“ Yes, sir ; that, too, I grant you ” 

“As secondary to the main object, the public conven- 
ience, Mr. Bragg unquestionably means,” put in John Ef- 
fingham, speaking for the first time that morning on the 
subject. 

Eve turned quickly and looked toward her kinsman. 
He was standing near the table, with folded arms, and his 
fine face expressing all the sarcasm and contempt that a 
countenance so singularly calm and gentlemanlike could 
betray. 

“ Cousin Jack,” she said earnestly, “ this ought not to be.” 

“Cousin Eve, nevertheless this will be.” 

“ Surely not — surely not ! Men can never so far forget 
appearances as to convert the temple of God into a thea- 
tre, in which the convenience of the spectators is the one 
great object to be kept in view ! ” 

“You have travelled, sir,” said John Effingham, indicat- 
ing by his eye that he addressed Mr. Dodge, in particular, 
“and must have entered places of worship in other parts 
of the world. Did not the simple beauty of the manner 
in which all classes, the great and the humble, the rich and 
the poor, kneel in a common humility before the altar, 
strike you agreeably on such occasions ; in Catholic coun- 
tries in particular?” 


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179 


“ Bless me ! no, Mr. John Effingham. I was disgusted 
at the meanness of their rites, and really shocked at the 
abject manner in which the people knelt on the cold damp 
stones, as if they were no better than beggars.” 

“ And were they not beggars ?” asked Eve, with almost 
a severity of tone ; “ought they not so to consider them- 
selves, when petitioning for mercy of the one great and 
omnipotent God?” 

“Why, Miss Effingham, the people will rule, and it is 
useless to pretend to tell them that they shall not have the 
highest seats in the church as well as in the state. Really 
I can see no ground why a parson should be raised above 
his parishioners. The new order churches consult the 
public convenience, and place everybody on a level, as it 
might be. Now, in old times, a family was buried in its 
pew. It could neither see nor be seen ; and I can remem- 
ber the time when I could just get a look of our clergy- 
man’s wig ; for he was an old-school man, and as for his 
fellow-creatures, one might as well be praying in his own 
closet. I must say I am a supporter of liberty, if it be 
only in pews.” 

“I am sorry, Mr. Dodge,” answered Eve, mildly, “you 
did not extend your travels into the countries of the Mus- 
sulmans, where most Christian sects might get some use- 
ful notions concerning the part of worship, at least, that 
is connected with appearances. There you would have 
seen no seats, but sinners bowing down in a mass, on the 
cold stones, and all thoughts of cushioned pews and draw- 
ing-room conveniences unknown. We Protestants have 
improved on our Catholic forefathers in this respect, and 
the innovation of which you now speak, in my eyes, is an 
irreverent — almost a sinful — invasion of the proprieties of 
the temple.” 

“ Ah, Miss Eve, this comes from substituting forms for 
the substance of things,” exclaimed the editor. “ For my 
part, I can say, I was truly shocked with the extravagan- 
ces I witnessed in the way of worship, in most of the coun- 
tries I visited. Would you think it, Mr. Bragg, rational 
beings, real bona fide living men and women, kneeling on 
the stone pavement, like so many camels in the desert” 
— Mr. Dodge loved to draw his images from the different 
parts of the world he had seen — “ ready to receive the 


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i So 

burdens of their masters; not a pew, not a cushion, not a 
single comfort that is suitable to a free and intelligent 
being, but everything conducted in the most abject man- 
ner, as if accountable human souls were no better than so 
many mutes in a Turkish palace ?” 

“ You ought to mention this in the Active Inquirer ,” 
said Aristabulus. 

“ All in good time, sir. I have many things in reserve, 
among which I propose to give a few remarks — I dare say 
they will be very worthless ones — on the impropriety of a 
rational being’s ever kneeling. To my notion, gentlemen 
and ladies, God never intended an American to kneel.” 

The respectable mechanics who stood around the table 
did not absolutely assent to this proposition ; for one of 
them actually remarked that “ he saw no great harm in a 
man’s kneeling to the Deity ; ” but they evidently inclined 
to the opinion that the new school of pews was far better 
than the old. 

“ It always appears to me, Miss Effingham,” said one, 
“ that I hear and understand the sermon better in one of 
the low pews, than in one of the old high-backed things 
that looks so much like pounds.” 

“ But can you withdraw into yourself better, sir ? Can 
you more truly devote all your thoughts, with a suitable 
singleness of heart, to the worship of God ? ” 

“ You mean in the prayers, now, I rather conclude ? ” 

“Certainly, sir,. I mean in the prayers and the thanks- 
givings.” 

“ Why, we leave them pretty much to-the parson ; though 
I own it is not quite as easy leaning on the edge of one of 
the new school pews as on one of the old. They are better 
for sitting, but not so good for standing. But then the sit- 
ting posture at prayers is quite coming into favor among 
our people, Miss Effingham, as well as among yours. The 
sermon is the main chance, after all.” 

“Yes,” observed Mr. Gouge, “give me good strong 
preaching any day, in preference to good praying. A man 
may get along with second-rate prayers, but he stands in 
need offfirst-rate preaching.” 

“ These gentlemen consider religion a little like a cor- 
dial on a cold day,” observed John Effingham, “which is 
to be taken in sufficient doses to make the blood circulate. 


HOME AS FOUND. ' 181 

They are not the men to be pounded in pews, like lost 
sheep ; not they ! ” 

“ Mr. John will always have his say,” one remarked, and 
then Mr. Effingham dismissed the party, by telling them 
he would think of the matter. 

When the mechanics were gone, the subject was dis- 
cussed at some length between those that remained, all the 
Effinghams agreeing that they would oppose the innova- 
tion, as irreverent in appearance, unsuited to the retirement 
and self-abasement that best comported with prayer, and 
opposed to the delicacy of their own habits ; while Messrs. 
Bragg and Dodge contended to the last that such changes 
we^e loudly called for by the popular sentiment ; that it 
was unsuited to the dignity of a man to be ‘‘pounded,” 
even in a church, and virtually, that a good, “stirring” 
sermon, as they called it, was of far more account, in pub- 
lic worship, than all the prayers and praises that could issue 
from the heart or throat. 


CHAPTER XIV. 

“ We’ll follow Cade — we’ll follow Cade.” 

“The views of this Mr. Bragg, and of our old fellow- 
traveller, Mr. Dodge, appear to be peculiar on the subject 
of religious forms,” observed Sir George Templemore, as 
he descended the little lawn before the Wigwam, in com- 
pany with the three ladies, Paul Powis, and John Effingham, 
on their way to the lake. “ I should think it would be dif- 
ficult to find another Christian who objects to kneeling at 
prayer.” 

“Therein you are mistaken, Templemore,” answered 
Paul ; “ for this country, to say nothing of one sect which 
holds it in utter abomination, is filled with them. Our 
pious ancestors, like neophytes, ran into extremes on the 
subject of forms, as well as in other matters. When you 
go to Philadelphia, Miss Effingham, you will see an instance 
of a most ludicrous nature — ludicrous, if there was not 
something painfully revolting mingled with it— of the man- 


HOME AS FOUND. 


182 

ner in which men can strain at a gnat and swallow a camel ; 
and which I am sorry to say is immediately connected with 
our own church.” 

It w T as music to Eve’s ears to hear Paul Powis speak of 
his pious ancestors as being American, and to find him so 
thoroughly identifying himself with her own native land ; 
for, while condemning so many of its practices, and so 
much alive, to its absurdities and contradictions, our heroine 
had seen too much of other countries, not to take an honest 
pride in the real excellences of her own. There was, also, 
a soothing pleasure in hearing him openly own that he be- 
longed to the same church as herself. 

“And what is there ridiculous in Philadelphia, in par- 
ticular, and in connection with our own church ? ” she asked. 
“ I am not so easily disposed to find fault wdiere the vener- 
able church is concerned.” 

“ You know that the Protestants, in their horror of idola- 
try, discontinued, in a great degree, the use of the cross as 
an outward religious symbol ; and that there was probably 
a time when there was not a single cross to be seen in the 
whole of a country that was settled by those who made a 
profession of love for Christ and a dependence on his expi- 
ation, the great business of their lives ! ” 

“ Certainly. We all know our predecessors were a little 
over-rigid and scrupulous on all points connected with out- 
ward appearances.” 

** They certainly contrived to render the religious rites 
as little pleasing to the senses as possible, by aiming at a 
sublimation that peculiarly favors spiritual pride and a 
pious conceit. I do not know whether travelling has had 
the same effect on you as it has produced on me ; but I 
find all my inherited antipathies to the mere visible rep- 
resentation of the cross superseded by a sort of solemn 
affection for it, as a symbol, when it is plain and unaccom- 
panied by any of those bloody and minute accessories that 
are so often seen around it in Catholic countries. The 
German Protestants, who usually ornament the altar with a 
cross, first cured me of the disrelish I imbibed on this sub- 
ject in childhood.” 

“We, also, I think, Cousin John, were agreeably struck 
with the same usage in Germany. From feeling a species 
of nervousness at the sight of a cross, I came to love to 


HOME AS FOUND. 


183 

see it ; and I think you must have undergone a similar 
change, for I have discovered no less than three among the 
ornaments of the great window of the entrance tower at 
the Wigwam.” 

“ You might have discovered one, also, in every door of 
the building, v/hether great or small, young lady. Our 
pious ancestors, as Powis calls them, much of whose piety, 
by the way, was anything but meliorated with spiritual hu- 
mility or Christian charity, were such ignoramuses as to 
set up crosses in every door they built, even while they 
veiled their eyes in holy horror whenever the sacred sym- 
bol was seen in a church.” 

“ Every door ! ” exclaimed the Protestants of the party. 

“ Yes, literally every door, I might almost say ; certainly 
every panelled door that was constructed twenty years 
since. I first discovered the secret of our blunder, when 
visiting a castle in France, that dated back from the time 
of the crusade. It was a chateau of the Montmorencies, 
that had passed into the hands of the Conde family by mar- 
riage ; and the courtly old domestic, who showed me the 
curiosities, pointed out to me the stone croix in the win- 
dows, which has caused the latter to be called croisees , as a 
pious usage of the crusaders. Turning to a door, I saw 
the same crosses in the wooden stiles ; and if you cast an 
eye on the first humble door that you may pass in this 
village, you will detect the same symbol staring you 
boldly in the face, in the very heart of a population that 
would almost expire at the thoughts of placing such a sign 
of the beast on their very thresholds.” 

The whole party expressed their surprise ; but the first 
door they passed corroborated this account, and proved 
the accuracy of John Effingham’s statements. Catholic 
zeal and ingenuity could not have wrought more accurate 
symbols of this peculiar sign of the sect ; and yet, here 
they stood, staring every passenger in the face, as if mock- 
ing the ignorant and exaggerated pretension which would 
lay undue stress on the minor points of a religion, the es- 
sence of which was faith and humility. 

“And the Philadelphia church ?-” said Eve, quickly, so 
soon as her curiosity was satisfied on the subject of the 
door ; “ I am now more impatient than ever to learn what 
silly blunder we have also committed there.” 


i8 4 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“ Impious would almost be a better term,” Paul an- 
swered. 

“The only church spire that existed for half a century, 
in that town, was surmounted by a mitre , while the cross 
was studiously rejected.” 

A silence followed ; for there is often more true argu- 
ment in simply presenting the facts of a case, than in all 
the rhetoric and logic that could be urged by way of aux- 
iliaries. Every one saw the egregious folly, not to say 
presumption, of the mistake ; and at the moment every 
one wondered how a common-sense community could 
have committed so indecent a blunder. We are mistaken. 
There was an exception to the general feeling in the per- 
son of Sir George Templemore. To his church-and-state 
notions, and anti-catholic prejudices, which were quite as 
much political as religious, there was everything that was 
proper, and nothing that was wrong, in rejecting a cross 
for a mitre. 

“ The church, no doubt, was Episcopal, Powis,” he re- 
marked, “and it was not Roman. What better symbol 
than the mitre could be chosen ? ” 

“Now I reflect, it is not so very strange,” said Grace, 
eagerly, “ for you will remember, Mr. Effingham, that Pro- 
testants attach the idea of idolatry to the cross, as it is 
used by Catholics.” 

“And of bishops, peers in parliament, church and state, 
to a mitre.” 

“Yes ; but the church in question I have seen ; and it 
was erected before the war of the revolution. It was an 
English rather than an American church.” 

“ It was, indeed, an English church rather than an Ame- 
rican ; and Templemore is very right to defend it, mitre 
and all.” 

“ I dare say a bishop officiated at its altar ? ” 

<l I dare say — nay, I know he did ; and I will add, he 
would rather that the mitre were two hundred feet in the 
air than down on his own simple, white-haired, apostolical- 
looking head. But enoug;h of divinity for the morning ; 
yonder is Tom with the boat, let us to our oars.” 

The party were now on the little wharf that served as a 
village-landing, and the boatman mentioned lay off, in wait- 
ing for the arrival of his fare. Instead of using him, how- 


HOME AS FOUND . 


i»5 

ever, the man was dismissed, the gentlemen preferring to 
handle the oars themselves. Aquatic excursions were of 
constant occurrence in the warm months, on that beauti- 
fully limpid sheet of water, and it was the practice to dis- 
pense with the regular boatmen, whenever good oarsmen 
were to be found among the company. 

As soon as the light buoyant skiff was brought to the 
side of the wharf, the whole party embarked ; and Paul 
and the baronet taking the oars, they soon urged the boat 
frcm the shore. 

“ The world is getting to be too confined for the adven- 
turous spirit of the age,” said Sir George, as he and his 
companion pulled leisurely along, taking the direction of 
the eastern shore, beneath the forest-clad cliffs of which the 
ladies had expressed a wish to be rowed ; “ here are Powis 
and myself actually rowing together on a mountain lake of 
America, after having boated as companions on the coast 
of Africa, and on the margin of the Great Desert. Poly- 
nesia and Terra Australis may yet see us in company, as 
hardy cruisers.” 

“The spirit of the age is, indeed, working wonders in the 
way you mean,” said John Effingham. “Countries of 
which our fathers merely read, are getting to be as familiar 
as our own homes to their sons ; and, with you, one can 
hardly foresee to what a pass of adventure the generation 
or two that will follow us may not reach.” 

“ Vrciimeiit cest fort extraordinaire de se trouver sur un lac 
Americain ,” exclaimed Mademoiselle Viefville. 

“ More extraordinary than to find one’s self on a Swiss 
lake, think you, my dear Mademoiselle Viefville ? ” 

“ Non, non , mais tout aussi extraordinaire pour une Pari- 
sienne." 

“ I am now about to introduce you, Mr. John Effingham 
and Miss Van Cortlandt excepted,” Eve continued, “ to.the 
wonders and curiosities of this lake and region. There, 
near the small house that is erected over a spring of deli- 
cious water, stood the hut of Natty Bumppo, once known 
throughout all these mountains as a renowned hunter ; a 
man who had the simplicity of a woodsman, the heroism of 
a savage, the faith of a Christian, and the feelings of a poet. 
A better than he, after his fashion, seldom lived.” 

“We have all heard of him,” said the baronet, looking 


1 86 HOME AS FOUND. 

round curiously; “and must all feel an interest in what 
concerns so brave and just a man. I would I could see his 
counterpart.” 

“Alas ! ” said John Effingham, “ the days of the ‘ Leather- 
stockings ' have passed away. He preceded me in life, and 
I see few remains of his character in a region where specu- 
lation is more rife than moralizing, and emigrants are plen- 
tier than hunters. Natty probably chose that spot for his 
hut, on account of the vicinity of the spring ; is it not so, 
Miss Effingham ? ” 

“ He did ; and yonder little fountain that you see gush- 
ing from the thicket, and which comes glancing like dia- 
monds into the lake, is called the ‘ Fairy Spring,’ by some 
flight of poetry that, like so many of our feelings, must 
have been imported ; for I see no connection between the 
name and the character of the country, fairies having never 
been known, even by tradition, in Otsego.” 

The boat now came under a shore, where the trees 
fringed the very water, frequently overhanging the element 
that mirrored their fantastic forms. At this point a light 
skiff was moving leisurely along in their own directkm, but 
a short distance in advance. On a hint from John Effing- 
ham, a few vigorous strokes of the oars brought the boats 
near each other. 

“ This is the flag-ship,” half whispered John Effingham, 
as they came near the other £kiff, “containing no less a 
man than the ‘commodore.’ Formerly the chief of the 
lake was an admiral, but that was in times when, living 
nearer to the monarchy, we retained some of the European 
terms ; now, no man rises higher than a commodore in 
America whether it be on the ocean or on the Otsego, 
whatever maybe his merits or his services. A charming day, 
commodore; I rejoice to see you still afloat in your glory.” 

The commodore, a tall, thin, athletic man of seventy, 
with a white head, and movements that were quick as those 
of a boy, had not glanced aside at the approaching boat 
until he was thus saluted in the well known voice of John 
Effingham. He then turned his head, however, and scan- 
ning the whole party through his spectacles, he smiled 
good-naturedly, made a flourish with one hand, while he 
continued paddling with the other, for he stood erect and 
straight in the stern of his skiff, and answered heartily— 


HOME AS FOUND. 


187 

“ A fine morning, Mr. John, and the right time of the 
moon for boating. This is not a real scientific day for the 
fish, perhaps ; but I have just come out to see that all the 
points and bays are in their right places.” 

“ How is it, commodore, that the water near the village 
is less limpid than common, and that even up here we see 
so many specks floating on its surface ? ” 

“What a question for Mr. John Effingham to ask of his 
native water ! So much for travelling in far countries, 
where a man forgets quite as much as he learns, I fear.” 
Here the commodore turned entirely round, and raising 
an open hand in an oratorical manner, he added — “ You 
must know, ladies and gentlemen, that the lake is in blow.” 

“ In blow, commodore ! I did not know that the lake 
bore its blossoms.” 

“ It does, sir, nevertheless. Ay, Mr. John, and its fruits, 
too ; but the last must be dug for, like potatoes. There 
have been no miraculous draughts of the fishes of late years 
in the Otsego, ladies and gentlemen ; but it needs the sci- 
entific touch and the knowledge of baits to get a fin of any 
of your true game above the water, nowadays. Well, I 
have had the head of the sogdollager thrice in the open 
air, in my time, though I am told the admiral actually got 
hold of him once with his hand.” 

“ The sogdollager ! ” said Eve, much amused with the sin- 
gularities of the man, whom she perfectly remembered to 
have been commander of the lake, even in her own infancy ; 
“we must be indebted to you for an explanation of that 
term, as well as for the meaning of your allusion to the 
head and the open air.” 

“ A sogdollager, young lady, is the perfection of a thing. 
I know Mr. Grant used to say there was no such word in 
the dictionary ; but then there are many words that ought 
to be in the dictionaries that have been forgotten by the 
printers. In the way of salmon trout, the sogdollager is 
their commodore. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I should 
not like to tell you all I know about the patriarch of this 
lake, for you would scarcely believe me ; but if he would 
not weigh a hundred when cleaned, there is not an ox in 
the county that will weigh a pound when slaughtered.” 

“ You say you had his head above water?” said John 
Effingham. 


HOME AS FOUND. 


1 88 

“Thrice, Mr. John. The first time was thirty years ago ; 
and I confess I lost him on that occasion by want of science ; 
for the art is not learned in a day, and I had then followed 
the business but ten years. The second time was five years 
later ; and I had then been fishing expressly for the old 
gentleman about a month. For near a minute it was a 
matter of dispute between us whether he should come out 
of the lake or I go into it ; but I actually got his gills in 
plain sight. That was a glorious haul ! Washington did 
not feel better the night Cornwallis surrendered, than I 
felt on that great occasion ! ” 

“ One never knows the feelings of another, it seems. I 
should have thought disappointment at the loss would have 
been the prevailing sentiment on that great occasion, as you 
so justly term it.” 

“So it would have been, Mr. John, with an unscientific 
fisherman ; but we experienced hands know better. Glory 
is to be measured by quality, and not by quantity, ladies 
and gentlemen ; and I look on it as a greater feather in 
a man’s cap to see the sogdollager’s head above water for 
half a minute than to bring home a skiff filled with pick- 
erel. The last time I got a look at the old gentleman I did 
not try to get him into the boat, but-we sat and conversed 
for near two minutes ; he in the water, and I in the skiff.” 

“ Conversed ! ” exclaimed Eve, “ and with a fish, too ! 
What could the animal have to say ? ” 

“Why, young lady, a fish can talk as well as one of our- 
selves ; the only difficulty is to understand what he says. 
I have heard the old settlers affirm that the Leather-stock- 
ing used to talk for hours at a time with the animals of the 
forest.” 

“You knew the Leather-stocking, commodore ?” 

“No, young lady, I am sorry to say I never had the 
pleasure of looking on him even. He was a great man ! 
They may talk of their Jeffersons and Jacksons, but 1 set 
down Washington and Natty Bumppo as the two only really 
great men of my time.” 

“ What do you think of Bonaparte, commodore ? ” in- 
quired Paul. 

“ Well, sir, Bonaparte had some strong points about him, 
I do really believe. But he could have been nothing to the 
Leather-stocking in the woods ! It’s no great matter, young 


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189 


gentleman, to be a great man among your inhabitants of 
cities — what I gall umbrella people. Why, Natty was al- 
most as great with the spear as with the rifle ; though I 
never heard that he got a sight of the sogdollager.” 

“ We shall meet again this summer, commodore,” said 
John Effingham ; “ the ladies wish to hear the echoes, and 
we must leave you.” 

“All very natural, Mr. John,” returned the commodore, 
laughing, and again flourishing his hand in his own pecu- 
liar manner. “ The women all love to hear the echoes, for 
they are not satisfied with what they have once said, but 
they like to hear it over again. I never knew a lady come 
on the Otsego but one of the first things she did was to get 
paddled to the Speaking Rocks to have a chat with herself. 
They come out in such numbers sometimes, and then all 
talk at once, in a way quite to confuse the echo. I suppose 
you have heard, young lady, the opinion people have now 
got concerning these voices.” 

“ I cannot say I have ever heard more than that they are 
some of the most perfect echoes known,” answered Eve, 
turning her body so as to face the old man, as the skiff of 
the party passed that of the veteran fisherman. 

“ Some people maintain that there is no echo at all, 
and that the sounds we hear come from the spirit of the 
Leather-stocking, which keeps about its old haunts, and 
repeats everything we say, in mockery of our invasion of 
the woods. I do not say this notion is true, or that it is my 
own ; but we all know that Natty did dislike to see a new 
settler arrive in th*e mountains, and that he loved a tree as 
a muskrat loves water. They show a pine up here on the 
side of the Vision, which he notched at every new-comer, 
until reaching seventeen, his honest old heart could go no 
further, and he gave the matter up in despair.” 

u This is so poetical, commodore, it is a pity it cannot be 
true. I like this explanation of the ‘ Speaking Rocks ’ 
much better than that implied by the name of ‘ Fairy 
Spring.’ ” . 

“ You are quite right, young lady,” called out the fisher- 
man, as the boats separated still further. “There never 
was any fairy known in Otsego ; but the time has been 
when we could boast of a Natty Bumppo.” 

Here the commodore flourished his hand again, and Eve 


190 


HOME AS FOUND. 


nodded her adieus. The skiff of the party continued to 
pull slowly along the fringed shore, occasionally sheering 
more into the lake, to avoid some overhanging and nearly 
horizontal tree, and then returning so closely to the land, 
as barely to clear the pebbles of the narrow strand with the 
oar. 

Eve thought she had never beheld a more wild or beau- 
tifully variegated foliage, than that which the whole leafy 
mountain side presented. More than half of the forest of 
tall, solemn pines, that had veiled the earth when the coun- 
try was first settled, had already disappeared ; but agree- 
ably to one of the mysterious laws by-whieh nature is gov- 
erned, a rich second growth, that included nearly every 
variety of American wood, had shot up in their places. 
The rich Rembrandt-like hemlocks, in particular, were 
perfectly beautiful, contrasting admirably with the livelier 
tints of the various deciduous trees. Here and there, some 
flowering shrub rendered the picture gay, while masses of 
the rich chestnut, in blossom, lay in clouds of natural glory 
among the dark tops of the pines. 

The gentlemen pulled the light skiff fully a mile under 
this overhanging foliage, occasionally frightening some mi- 
gratory bird from a branch, or a water-fowl from the nar- 
row strand. At length, John Effingham desired them to 
cease rowing, and managing the skiff for a minute or two 
with the paddle which he had used in steering, he desired 
the whole party to look up, announcing to them that they 
were beneath the “ Silent Pine.” 

A common exclamation of pleasure Succeeded the up- 
ward glance ; for it is seldom that a tree is seen to more 
advantage than that which immediately attracted every 
eye. The pine stood on the bank, with its roots embedded 
in the earth, a few feet higher than the level of the lake, 
but in such a situation as to bring the distance .above the 
water into the apparent height of the tree. Like all of 
its kind that grows in the dense forests of America, its in- 
crease, for a thousand years, had been upward ; and it now 
stood in solitary glory, a memorial of what the mountains 
which were yet so rich in vegetation had really been in 
their days of nature and pride. For near a hundred feet 
above the eye, the even round trunk was branchless, and 
then commenced the dark -green masses of foliage, which 


HOME AS FOUND. 


191 

dung around the stem like smoke ascending in wreaths. 
The tall column-like tree had inclined toward the light 
when struggling among its fellows, and it now so far over- 
hung the lake, that its summit may have been some ten or 
fifteen feet without the base. A gentle, graceful curve 
added to the effect of this variation from the perpendicu- 
lar, and infused enough of the fearful into the grand, to 
render the picture sublime. Although there was not a 
breath of wind on the lake, the cui'rents were strong 
enough above the forest to move this lofty object, and it 
was just possible to detect a slight, graceful yielding of 
the very uppermost boughs to the passing air. 

“This pine is ill-named,” cried Sir* George Templemore, 
"for it is the most eloquent tree eye of mine has ever 
looked on ! ” 

“ It is indeed eloquent,” answered Eve ; “one hears it 
speak even now of the fierce storms that have whistled 
round its tops— of the seasons that have passed since it ex- 
tricated that verdant cap from the throng of sisters that 
grew beneath it, and of all that has passed on the Otsego, 
when this limpid lake lay like a gem embedded in the for- 
est. When the Conqueror first landed in England this tree 
stood' on the spot where it now stands ! Here, then, is at 
last an American antiquity ! ” 

“ A true and regulated taste, Miss Effingham,” said Paul, 
“ has pointed out to you one of the real charms of the coun- 
try. Were we to think less of the artificial and more of 
our natural excellences, we should render ourselves less 
liable to criticism.” 

Eve was never inattentive when Paul spoke ; and her 
color heightened as he paid this compliment to her taste, 
but still her soft blue eve was riveted on the pine. 

“ Silent it may be in one respect, but it is indeed all elo- 
quence in another,” she resumed, with a fervor that was not 
lessened by Paul’s remark. “ That crest of verdure, which 
resembles a plume of feathers, speaks of a thousand things 
to the imagination.” 

“ I have never known a person of any poetry who came 
under this tree,” said John Effingham, “that did not fall 
into this very train of thought. I once brought a man 
celebrated for his genius here, and after gazing for a min- 
ute or two at the high, green tuft that tops the tree, he ex- 


192 


HOME AS FOUND. 


claimed, ‘that mass of green waved there in the fierce light 
when Columbus first ventured into the unknown sea.’ It 
is indeed eloquent ; for it tells the same glowing tale to all 
who approach it — a tale fraught with feeling and recollec- 
tions.” 

“And yet its silence is, after all, its eloquence,” added 
Paul ; “and the name is'not so misplaced as one might at 
first think.” 

“ It probably obtained its name from some fancied con- 
trast to the garrulous rocks that lie up yonder, half con- 
cealed by the forest. If you will ply the oars, gentlemen, 
we will now hold a little communion with the spirit of the 
Leather-stocking.” 

The young men complied ; and in about five minutes the 
skiff was off in the lake, at the distance of fifty rods from 
the shore, where the whole mountain-side came at one 
glance into the view. Here they lay on their oars, and 
John Effingham called out to the rocks a “good morning,” 
in a clear distinct voice. The mocking sounds were thrown 
back again with a closeness of resemblance that actually 
startled the novice. Then followed other calls and other 
repetitions of the echoes, which did not lose the minutest 
intonation of the voice. 

“This actually surpasses the celebrated echoes of the 
Rhine,” cried the delighted Eve; “for, though those do 
give the strains of the bugle so clearly, I do not think they 
answer to the voice with so much fidelity.” 

“ You are very right, Eve,” replied her kinsman, “for I 
can recall no place where so perfect and accurate an echo 
is to be heard as at these speaking rocks. By increasing 
our distance to half a mile, and using a bugle, as I well 
know from actual experiment, we should get back entire 
passages of an air. The interval between the sound and the 
echo, too, would be distinct, and would give time for an 
undivided attention. Whatever may be said of the ‘ pine,’ 
these rocks are most aptly named ; and if the spirit of 
Leather-stocking has any concern with the matter, he is a 
mocking spirit.” 

John Effingham now looked at his watch, and then he 
explained to the party a pleasure he had in store for them. 
On a sort of small, public promenade, that lay at the point 
where the river flowed out of the lake, stood a rude shell 


HOME AS FOUND. 


x 93 


of a building that was called the “gun-house.” Here — a 
speaking picture of the entire security of the country, from 
foes within as well as from foes without — were kept two or 
three pieces of field artillery, with doors so op,en that any 
one might enter the building, and even use the - guns at 
will, although they properly belonged, to the organized 
Corps of the State. 

One of these guns had been sent a short distance down 
the valley ; and John Effingham informed his companions 
that they might look momentarily for its reports to arouse 
the echoes of the mountains. He was still speaking when 
the gun was fired, its muzzle being turned eastward. The 
sound first reached the side of the Vision, abreast of the 
village, whence the reverberations reissued, and rolled 
along the range, from cave to cave, and cliff to cliff, and 
wood to wood, until they were lost, like distant thunder, 
two or three leagues to the northward. The experiment 
was thrice repeated, and always with the same magnificent 
effect, the western hills actually echoing the echoes of the 
eastern mountains, like the dying strains of some falling 
music. 

“ Such a locality would be a treasure in the vicinity of 
a melodramatic theatre,” said Paul, laughing, “for cer- 
tainly no artificial thunder I have ever heard has equalled 
this. This sheet of water might even receive a gon- 
dola.” 

“ And yet, I fear, one accustomed to the boundless hori- 
zon of the ocean might in time weary of it,” answered John 
Effingham, significantly. 

Paul made no answer ; and the party rowed away in si- 
lence. 

“ Yonder is the spot where we have so long been accus- 
tomed to resort for picnics,” said Eve, pointing out a 
lovely place, that was beautifully shaded by old oaks, and 
on which stood a rude house that was much dilapidated, 
and indeed injured, by the hands of man. John Effing- 
ham smiled, as his cousin showed the place to her com- 
panions, promising them an early and nearer view of its 
beauties. 

“ By the way, Miss Effingham,” he said, “ I suppose you 
flatter yourself with being the heiress of that desirable re- 
treat ? ” 


x 3 


i 9 4 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“ It is very natural that at some day, though I trust a 
very distant one, I should succeed to that which belongs to 
my dear father.” 

“ Both natural and legal, my fair cousin ; but you are 
yet to learn that there is a power that threatens to rise up 
and dispute your claim.” 

“ What power — human power, at least— can dispute the 
lawful claim of an owner to his property ? That Point has 
been ours ever since civilized man has dwelt among these 
hills ; who will presume to rob us of it ? ” 

“You will be much surprised to discover that there is 
such a power, and that there is actually a disposition to 
exercise it. The public— the all-powerful, omnipotent, 
over-ruling, law-making, law-breaking public — has a pass- 
ing caprice to possess itself of your beloved Point ; and 
Ned Effingham must show unusual energy, or it will get 
it ! ” 

“Are you serious, Cousin Jack ?” 

“As serious as the magnitude of the subject can render 
a responsible being, as Mr. Dodge would say.” 

Eve said no more, but she looked vexed, and remained 
almost silent until they landed, when she hastened to seek 
her father with a view to communicate what she had 
heard. Mr. Effingham listened to his daughter, as he 
always did, with tender interest ; and when she had done, 
he kissed her glowing cheek, bidding her not to believe 
that, which she seemed so seriously to dread, possible. 

“ But Cousin John would not trifle with me on such a 
subject, father,” Eve continued ; “he knows how much I 
prize all those little heirlooms that are connected with the 
affections.” 

“We can inquire further into the affair, my child, if it 
be your desire ; ring for Pierre, if you please.” 

Pierre answered, and a message was sent to Mr. Bragg, 
requiring his presence in the library. 

Aristabulus appeared, by no means in the best humor, 
for he disliked having been omitted in the late excursion 
on the lake, fancying that he had a community right to 
share in all his neighbors’ amusements, though he had suf- 
ficient self-command to conceal his feelings. 

“I wish to know, sir,” Mr. Effingham commenced, with- 
out introduction, “whether there can be any mistake con- 


HOME AS FOUND. 


r 95 


cerning the ownership of the Fishing Point on the west 
side of the lake.’' 

“ Certainly not, sir ; it belongs to the public.” 

Mr. Effingham’s cheek glowed, and he looked astonished ; 
but he remained calm. 

“The public ! Do you gravely affirm, Mr. Bragg, that 
the public pretends to claim that Point ?” 

“ Claim, Mr. Effingham ! as long as I have resided in this 
county, I have never heard its right disputed.” 

“ Your residence in this county, sir, is not of very an- 
cient date, and nothing is easier than that you may be mis- 
taken. I confess some curiosity to know in what manner 
the public has acquired its title to the spot. You are a 
lawyer, Mr. Bragg, and may give an intelligible account 
of it.” 

“Why, sir, your father gave it to them in his lifetime. 
Everybody, in all this region, will tell you as much as this.” 

“ Do you suppose, Mr. Bragg, there is anybody in all 
this region who will swear to the fact ? Proof, you well 
know, is very requisite even to obtain justice.” 

“ I much question, sir, if there be anybody in all this 
region that will not swear to the fact. It is the common 
tradition of the whole country ; and, to be frank with you, 
sir, there is a little displeasure, because Mr. John Effing- 
ham has talked of giving private entertainments on the 
Point.” 

“ This, then, only shows how idly and inconsiderately the 
traditions of the country take their rise. But, as I wish to 
understand all the points of the case, do me the favor to 
walk into the village, and inquire of those whom you think 
the best informed in the matter, what they know of the 
Point, in order that I may regulate my course accordingly. 
Be particular, if you please, on the subject of title, as one 
would not wish to move in the dark.” 

Aristabulus quitted the house immediately, and Eve, 
perceiving that things were in the right train, left her fa- 
ther alone to meditate on what had just passed. Mr. Ef- 
fingham walked up and down his library for some time, 
much disturbed, for the spot in question was identified 
with all his early feelings and recollections ; and if there 
were a foot of land on earth, to which he was more at- 
tached than to all others, next to his immediate residence, 


ig6 


HOME AS FOUND. 


it was this. Still, he could not conceal from himself, in 
spite of his opposition to John Effingham’s sarcasms, that 
his native country had undergone many changes since he 
last resided in it, and that some of these changes were 
quite sensibly for the worse. The spirit of misrule was 
abroad, and the lawless and unprincipled held bold lan- 
guage, when it suited their purpose to intimidate. As he 
ran over in his mind, however, the facts of the case, and 
the nature of his right, he smiled to think that any one 
should contest it, and sat down to his writing, almost for- 
getting that there had been any question at all on the un- 
pleasant subject. 

Aristabulus was absent for several hours, nor did he re- 
turn until Mr. Effingham was dressed for dinner, and alone 
in the library again, having absolutely lost all recollection 
of the commission he had given his agent. 

“ It is as I told you, sir — the public insists that it owns 
the Point ; and I feel it my duty to say, Mr. Effingham, that 
the public is determined to maintain its claim.” 

“Then, Mr. Bragg, it is proper I should tell the public 
that it is not the owner of the Point, but that I am its owner, 
and that I am determined to maintain my claim.” 

“It is hard to kick against the pricks, Mr. Effingham.” 

“ It is so, sir, as the public will discover, if it persevere 
in invading a private right.” 

“ Why, sir, some of those with whom I have conversed 
have gone so far as to desire me to tell you — I trust my 
motive will not be mistaken——-” 

“If you have any communication to make, Mr. Bragg, 
do it without reserve. It is proper I should know the truth 
exactly.” 

“Well, then, sir, I am the bearer of something like a 
defiance ; the people wish you to know that they hold 
your right cheaply, and that they laugh at it. Not to 
mince matters, they defy you.” 

“ I thank you for this frankness, Mr. Bragg, and it in- 
creases my respect for your character. Affairs are now at 
such a pass, that it is necessary to act. If you will amuse 
yourself with a book for a moment, I shall have further 
occasion for your kindness.” 

Aristabulus did not read, for he was too much filled with 
wonder- at seeing a man so coolly set about contending 


HOME AS FOUND . 


197 


with that awful public which he himself as habitually de- 
ferred to, as any Asiatic slave defers to his monarch. In- 
deed, nothing but his being sustained by that omnipotent 
power, as he viewed the power of the public to be, had 
emboldened him to speak so openly to his employer, for 
Aristabulus felt a secret confidence, that, right or wrong, 
it was always safe in America to make the most fearless 
professions in favor of the great body of the community. 
In the meantime, Mr. Effingham wrote a simple ad- 
vertisement against trespassing on the property in ques- 
tion, and handed it to the other, with a request that he 
would have it inserted in the number of the village paper 
that was to appear next morning. Mr. Bragg took the 
advertisement, and went to execute the duty without com- 
ment. 

The evening arrived before Mr. Effingham was again 
alone, when, being by himself in the library once more, 
Mr. Bragg entered, full of his subject. He was followed 
by John Effingham, who had gained an inkling of what had 
passed. 

“ I regret to say, Mr. Effingham,” Aristabulus com- 
menced, “ that your advertisement has created one of the 
greatest excitements it has ever been my ill-fortune to wit- 
ness in Templeton.” 

“ All of which ought to be very encouraging to us, Mr. 
Bragg, as men under excitement are usually wrong.” 

“ Very true, sir, as regards individual excitement, but 
this is a public excitement.” 

“ I am not at all aware that that fact in the least alters 
the case. If one excited man is apt to do silly things, 
half a dozen backers will be very likely to increase his 
folly.” 

Aristabulus listened with wonder, for excitement was 
one of the means for effecting public objects, so much 
practised by men of his habits, that it had never crossed 
his mind any single individual could be indifferent to its 
effect. To own the truth he had anticipated so much un- 
popularity from his unavoidable connection with the affair, 
as to have contributed himself in producing the excite- 
ment, with the hope of ‘‘choking Mr. Effingham off,” as 
he had elegantly expressed it to one of his intimates, in 
the vernacular of the country. 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“A public excitement is a powerful engine, Mr. Ef- 
fingham,” he exclaimed, in a sort of politico-pious hor- 
ror. 

“ I am fully aware, sir, that it may be even a fearfully 
powerful engine. Excited men, acting in masses, compose 
what are called mobs, and have committed a thousand ex- 
cesses.” 

“Your advertisement is, to the last degree, disrelished ; 
to be very sincere, it is awfully unpopular ! ” 

“ I suppose it is always what you term an unpopular 
act, so far as the individuals opposed are concerned, to re- 
sist aggression.” 

“But they call your advertisement aggression, sir.” 

“ In that simple fact exist all the merits of the question. 
If I own this property, the public, or that portion of it 
which is connected with this affair, are aggressors ; and so 
much more in the wrong that they are many against one ; 
if they own the property, 1 am not only wrong, but very 
indiscreet.” 

The calmness with which Mr. Effingham spoke had an 
effect on Aristabulus, and, for a moment, he was staggered. 
It was only for a moment, however, as the pains and pen- 
alties of unpopularity presented themselves afresh to an 
imagination that had been so long accustomed to study the 
popular caprice, that it had got to deem the public favor 
the one great good of life. 

“But they say, they own the Point, Mr. Effingham.” 

“ And I say, they do not own the Point, Mr. Bragg ; 
never did own it ; and with my consent, never shall own 
it.” 

“ This is purely a matter of fact,” observed John Effing- 
ham, “ and I confess I am curious to know how or whence 
this potent public derives its title. You are lawyer enough, 
Mr. Bragg, to, know that the public can hold property 
only by use or by especial statute. Now, under which 
title does this claim present itself ? ” 

“First, by use, sir, and then by especial gift.” 

“ The use, you are aware, must be adverse, or as op- 
posed to the title of the other claimants. Now, I am a 
living witness that my late uncle permitted the public to 
use this Point, and that the public accepted the conditions. 
Its use, therefore, has not been adverse, or, at least, not 


HOME AS FOUND. 


99 


for a time sufficient to make title. Every hour that my 
cousin has permitted the public to enjoy his property, 
adds to his right, as well as to the obligation conferred on 
that public, and increases the duty of the latter to cease 
intruding, whenever he desires it. If there is an especial 
gift, as I understand you to say, from my late uncle, there 
must also be a law to enable the public to hold, or a 
trustee ; which is the fact ? ” 

“ I admit, Mr. John Effingham, that I have seen neither 
deed nor law, and I doubt if the latter exist. Still the 
public must have some claim, for it is impossible that 
everybody should be mistaken.” 

“ Nothing is easier, nor anything more common, than 
for whole communities to be mistaken, and more particu- 
larly when they commence with excitement.” 

While his cousin was speaking, Mr. Effingham went to 
a secretaire, and taking out a large bundle of papers, he 
laid it down cm the table, unfolding several parchment 
deeds, to which massive seals, bearing the arms of the late 
colony, as well as those of England, were pendent. 

“Here are my titles, sir,” he said, addressing Aristabu- 
lus, pointedly ; “if the public has a better, let it be pro- 
duced, and I shall at once submit to its claim.” 

“ No one doubts that the king, through his authorized 
agent, the governor of the colony of New York, granted 
this estate to your predecessor, Mr. Effingham, or that it 
descended legally to your immediate parent, but all con- 
tend that your parent gave the Point to the public, as a 
spot of public resort.” 

“ I am glad that the question is narrowed down within 
limits that are so easily examined. What evidence is there 
of this intention on the part of my late father ? ” 

“Common report ; I have talked with twenty people 
in the village, and they all agree that the ‘ Point ’ has 
been used by the public, as public property, from time 
immemorial.” 

“Will you be so good, Mr. Bragg, as to name some of 
those who affirm this ? ” 

Mr. Bragg complied, naming quite the number of per- 
sons he had mentioned, with a readiness that proved he 
thought he was advancing testimony of weight. 

“ Of all the names you have mentioned,” returned Mr. 


200 


HOME AS FOUND. 


Effingham, “ I never heard but three, and these are the 
names of mere boys. The first dozen are certainly the 
names of persons who can know no more of this village 
than they have gleaned in the last few years ; and several 
of them, I understand, have dwelt among us but a few 
weeks, nay, days.” 

“ Have I not told you, Ned,” interrupted John Effing- 
ham, “that an American * always ’ means eighteen months, 
and that 1 time immemorial ’ is only since the last general 
crisis in the money market ! ” 

“ The persons I have mentioned compose a part of the 
population, sir,” added Mr. Bragg, “ and one and all they 
are ready to swear that your father, by some means or 
other, they are not very particular as to minutiae, gave 
them the right to use this property.” 

“They are mistaken, and I should be sorry that any one 
among them should swear to such a falsehood. But here 
are my titles — let them show better, or if they can, any, 
indeed.” 

“ Perhaps your father abandoned the place to the pub- 
lic ; this might make a good claim.” 

“ That he did not, I am a living proof to the contrary ; 
he left it to his heirs at his death, and I myself exercised 
full right of ownership over it until I went abroad. I did 
not travel with it in my pocket, sir, it is true, but I left it 
to the protection of the laws, which, I trust, are as availa- 
ble to the rich as to the poor, although this is a free 
country.” 

“Well, sir, I suppose a jury must determine the point 
as you seem firm ; though I warn you, Mr. Effingham, as 
one who knows his country, that a verdict in the face of a 
popular feeling is rather a hopeless matter. If they prove 
that your late father intended to abandon or give this 
property to the public, your case will be lost.” 

Mr. Effingham looked among the papers a moment, and 
selecting one, he handed to Mr. Bragg, first pointing out 
to his notice a particular paragraph. 

“This, sir, is my late father’s will,” Mr. Effingham said 
mildly ; “ and in that particular clause you will find that 
he makes a special devise of this very ‘ Point,’ leaving it 
to his heirs, in such terms as to put any intention to give it 
to the public quite out of the question. This, at least, is 


HOME AS FOUND. 


201 


the latest evidence I, his only son, executor, and heir pos- 
sess of his final wishes ; if that wondering and time-imme- 
morial public of which you speak has a better, I wait with 
patience that it may be produced.” 

The composed manner of Mr. Effingham had deceived 
Aristabulus, who did not anticipate any proof so com- 
pletely annihilating to the pretensions of the public, as 
that he now held in his hand. It was a simple, brief de- 
vise, disposing of the piece of property in question, and 
left it without dispute, that Mr. Effingham had succeeded 
to all the rights of his father with no reservation or con- 
dition of any sort. 

“ This is very extraordinary,” exclaimed Mr. Bragg, 
when he had read the clause seven times, each perusal 
contributing to leave the case still clearer in favor of his 
employer, the individual, and still stronger against the 
hoped-for future employers, the people. “The public 
ought to know of this bequest of the late Mr. Effingham.” 

“ I think it ought, sir, before it pretended to deprive his 
child of his property ; or rather, it ought to be certain, at 
least that there was no such devise.” 

“You will excuse me, Mr. Effingham, but I think it is 
incumbent on a private citizen, in a case of this sort, when 
the public has taken up a wrong notion, as I now admit is 
clearly the fact as regards the Point, to enlighten it, and 
to inform it that it does not own the spot.” 

“This has been done already, Mr. Bragg, in the adver- 
tisement you had the goodness to carry to the printers, al- 
though I deny that there exists any such obligation.” 

“ But, sir, they object to the mode you have chosen to 
set them right.” 

“ The mode is usual, I believe, in the case of trespasses.” 

“ They expect something different, sir, in an affair in 
which the public is — is — is — all ” 

“Wrong,” put in John Effingham, pointedly. “ I have 
heard something of this out of doors, Ned, and blame you 
for your moderation. Is it true that you had told several 
of your neighbors that you have no wish to prevent them 
from using the Point, but that your sole object is merely 
to settle the question of right, and to prevent intrusions 
on your family, when it is enjoying its own place of retire- 
ment ? ” 


202 


HOME AS FOUND . 


“Certainly, John, my only wish is to preserve the prop- 
erty for those to whom it is especially devised, to allow 
those who have the best, nay, the only right to it, its un- 
disturbed possession, occasionally, and to prevent any 
more of that injury to the trees that has been committed 
by some of those rude men, who always fancy themselves 
so completely all the public, as to be masters in their own 
particular persons, whenever the public has any claim. I 
can have no wish to deprive my neighbors of the inno- 
cent pleasure of visiting the Point, though I am fully de- 
termined they shall not deprive me of my property.” 

“ You are far more indulgent than I should be, or per- 
haps than you will be yourself, when you read this.” 

As John Effingham spoke he handed his kinsman a 
small handbill, which purported to call a meeting for that 
night, of the inhabitants of Templeton, to resist his arro- 
gant claim to the disputed property. This handbill had 
the usual marks of a feeble and vulgar malignancy about 
if, affecting to call Mr. Effingham “one Mr. Effingham,” 
and it was anonymous. 

“This is scarcely worth our attention, John,” said Mr. 
Effingham, mildly. “ Meetings of this sort cannot decide 
a legal title, and no man who respects himself will be the 
tool of so pitiful an attempt to frighten a citizen from 
maintaining his rights.” 

“ I agree with you as respects the meeting, which has 
been conceived in ignorance and low malice, and will 
probably end, as all such efforts end, in ridicule. But ” 

“ Excuse me, Mr. John,” interrupted Aristabulus, “ there 
is an awful excitement ! Some have even spoken of 
Lynching ! ” 

“Then,” said Mr. Effingham, “it does, indeed, require 
that we should be more firm. Do you, sir, know of any 
person who has dared to use such a menace ? ” 

Aristabulus quailed before the stern eye of Mr. Effing- 
ham, and he regretted having communicated so much, 
though he had communicated nothing but the truth. He 
stammered out an obscure and half-intelligible explana- 
tion, and proposed to attend the meeting in person, in 
order that he might be in the way of understanding the 
subject, without falling into the danger of mistake. To 
this Mr. Effingham assented, as he felt too indignant at 


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203 


this outrage on all his rights, whether as a citizen or a 
man, to wish to pursue the subject with his agent that 
night. Aristabulus departed, and John Effingham re- 
mained closeted with his kinsman until the family retired. 
During this long interview, the former communicated 
many things to the latter, in relation to this very affair, of 
which the owner of the property, until then, had been 
profoundly ignorant. 


CHAPTER XV. 

“ There shall be in England, seven half-penny loaves sold for a penny 
the three-hooped pot shall have ten hoops ; and I will make it felony to 
drink small beer : all the realm shall be in common, and in Cheapside 
shall my palfrey go to grass.” — Jack Cade. 

Though the affair of the Point continued to agitate the 
village of Templeton next day, and for many days, it was 
little remembered in the Wigwam. Confident of his rio-ht, 
Mr. Effingham, though naturally indignant at the abuse of 
his long liberality, through which alone the public had been 
permitted to frequent the place, and this too, quite often, 
to his own discomfort and disappointment, had dismissed 
the subject temporarily from his mind, and was already en- 
gaged in his ordinary pursuits. Not so, however, with Mr. 
Bragg. Agreeably to promise, he had attended the meet- 
ing ; and now he seemed to regulate all his movements by 
a sort of mysterious self-importance, as if the repository 
of some secret of unusual consequence. No one regarded 
his manner, however ; for Aristabulus, and his secrets and 
opinions, were all of too little value in the eyes of most 
of the party, to attract peculiar attention. He found a 
sympathetic listener in Mr. Dodge, happily ; that person 
having been invited, through the courtesy of Mr. Effing- 
ham, to pass the day with those in whose company, though 
very unwillingly on the editor’s part certainly, he had gone 
through so many dangerous trials. These two, then, soon 
became intimate, and to have seen their shrugs, significant 
whisperings, and frequent conferences in corners, one who 
did not known them, might have fancied their shoulders 
burdened with the weight of the state. 


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But all this pantomime, which was intended to awaken 
curiosity, was lost on the company in general. The ladies, 
attended by Paul and the Baronet, proceeded into the for- 
est on foot, for a morning’s walk, while the two Messrs. 
Effingham continued to read the daily journals that were 
received from town each morning, with a most provoking 
indifference. Neither Aristabulus nor Mr. Dodge could 
resist any longer ; and after exhausting their ingenuity, in 
the vain effort to induce one of the two gentlemen to ques- 
tion them in relation to the meeting of the previous night, 
the desire to be doing fairly overcame their affected mys- 
teriousness, and a formal request was made to Mr. Effing- 
ham to give them an audience in the library. As the lat- 
ter, who suspected the nature of the interview, requested 
his kinsman to make one in it, the four were soon alone, 
in the apartment so often named. 

Even now that his own request for the interview was 
granted, Aristabulus hesitated about proceeding, until a 
mild intimation from Mr. Effingham that he was ready to 
hear his communication, told the agent that it was too late 
to change his determination. 

“ I attended the meeting last night, Mr. Effingham,” 
Aristabulus commenced, “ agreeably to our arrangement, 
and I feel the utmost regret at being compelled to lay the 
result before a gentleman for whom I entertain so pro- 
found a respect.” 

“There was then a meeting?” said Mr. Effingham, in- 
clining his body slightly, by way of acknowledgment for 
the other’s compliment. 

“There was, sir ; and I think, Mr. Dodge, we may say 
an overflowing one.” 

“The public was fairly represented,” returned the edi- 
tor, “ as many as fifty or sixty having been present.” 

“ The public has a perfect right to meet, and to consult 
on its claims to anything it may conceive itself entitled to 
enjoy,” observed Mr. Effingham. “ I can have no possible 
objection to such a course, though I think it would have 
consulted its own dignity more, had it insisted on being 
convoked by more respectable persons than those who, I 
understand, were foremost in this affair, and in terms bet- 
ter suited to its own sense of propriety.” 

Aristabulus glanced at Mr. Dodge, and Mr. Dodge 


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205 


glanced back at Mr. Bragg ; for neither of these political 
mushrooms could conceive of the dignity and fair-mind- 
edness with which a gentleman could view an affair of this 
nature. 

“They passed a set of resolutions, Mr. Effingham,” 
Aristabulus resumed, with the gravity with which he ever 
spoke of things of this nature. “ A set of resolutions, sir ! ” 
“That was to be expected,” returned his employer, 
smiling ; “the Americans are a set of resolutions-passing 
people. Three cannot get together without naming a chair- 
man and secretary, and a resolution is as much a Conse- 
quence of such an ‘ organization,’— I believe that is the 
approved word— as an egg is the accompaniment of the 
cackling of a hen.” 

“ But, sir, you do not know the nature of those resolu- 
tions ! ” 

“ Very true, Mr. Bragg ; that is a piece of knowledge I 
am to have the pleasure of obtaining from you.” 

Again Aristabulus glanced at Steadfast, and Steadfast 
threw back the look of surprise ; for to both it was matter 
of real astonishment that any man should be so indifferent 
to the resolutions of a meeting that had been regularly 
organized, with a chairman and secretary at its head, and 
which so unequivocally professed to be the public. 

“ I am reluctant to discharge this duty, Mr Effingham, 
but as you insist on its performance it must be done. In 
the first place, they resolved that your father meant to give 
them the Point.” 

“ A decision that must clearly settle the matter, and 
which will destroy all my father’s own resolutions on the 
same subject. Did they stop at the Point, Mr. Bragg, or 
did they resolve that my father also gave them his wife and 
children ? ” 

“No, sir, nothing was said concerning the latter.” 

“ I cannot properly express my gratitude for the forbear- 
ance, as they had just as good a right to pass this resolution 
as to pass the other.” 

“The public’s is an awful power, Mr. Effingham !” 

“ Indeed it is, sir, but, fortunately, that of the re-public 
is still more awful, and I shall look to the latter for sup- 
port, in this ‘ crisis ’—that is the word, too, is it not, Mr. 
John Effingham ?” 


20 6 


HOME AS F0 UNIX 


“ If you mean a change of administration, the upsetting 
of a stage, or the death of a cart-horse ; they are all equal- 
ly crisises, in the American vocabulary.” 

“ Well, Mr. Bragg, having resolved that it knew my late 
father’s intentions better than he knew them himself, as is 
apparent from the mistake he made in his will, what next 
did the public dispose of, in the plenitude of its power ? ” 

“ It resolved sir, that it was your duty to carry out the 
intentions of your father.” 

“In that, then, we are perfectly of a mind ; as the public 
will most probably discover, before we get through with 
this matter. This is one of the most pious resolutions I 
ever knew the public to pass. Did it proceed any further ? ” 

Mr. Bragg, notwithstanding the long-encouraged truck- 
ling to the sets of men whom he was accustomed to digni- 
fy with the name of the public, had a profound deference 
for the principles, character, and station of Mr. Effingham, 
that no sophistry, or self-encouragements in the practices of 
social confusion, could overcome ; and he paused before he 
communicated the next resolution to his employer. But 
perceiving that both th'e latter and his cousin were quietly 
waiting to hear it, he was fain to overcome his scruples. 

“ They have openly libelled you, by passing resolutions 
declaring you to be odious.” 

“That, indeed, is a strong measure, and, in the interest 
of good manners and of good morals, it may call for a re- 
buke. No one can care less than myself, Mr. Bragg, for 
the opinions of those who have sufficiently demonstrated 
that their opinions are of no value, by the heedless man- 
ner in which they have permitted themselves to fall into 
this error ; but it is proceeding too far, when a few mem- 
bers of the community presume to take these liberties with 
a private individual, and that, moreover, in a case affecting 
a pretended claim of their own ; and I desire you to tell 
those concerned, that if they dare to publish their resolu- 
tions declaring me to be odious, I will teach them what 
they now do not appear to know — that we live in a coun- 
try of laws. I shall not prosecute them, but I shall indict 
them for the offence, and I hope this is plainly expressed.” 

Aristabulus stood aghast ! To indict the public was a 
step he had never heard of before, and he began to per- 
ceive that the question actually had two sides. Still, his 


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207 


awe of public meetings, and his habitual regard for popu- 
larity, induced him not to give up the matter without an- 
other struggle. 

“ They have already ordered their proceedings to be 
published, Mr. Effingham ! ” he said, as if such an order 
were not to be countermanded. 

“ I fancy, sir, that when it comes to the issue, and the 
penalties of a prosecution present themselves, their leaders 
will begin to recollect their individuality, and to think less 
of their public character. They who hunt in droves, like 
wolves, are seldom very valiant when singled out from 
their pack. The end will show.” 

“ I heartily wish this unpleasant affair might be amica- 
bly settled,” added Aristabulus. 

“ One might, indeed, fancy so,” observed John Effing- 
ham, “since no one likes to be persecuted.” 

“ But, Mr. John, the public thinks itself persecuted in 
this affair.” 

“ The term, as applied to a body that not only makes, 
but which executes the law, is so palpably absurd, that I 
am surprised any man can presume to use it. But, Mr. 
Bragg, you have seen documents that cannot err, and know 
that the public has not the smallest right to this bit of 
land.” 

“All very true, sir; but you will please to remember, 
that the people do not know what I now know.” 

“ And you will please to remember, sir, that when peo- 
ple choose to act affirmatively, in so high-handed a man- 
ner as this, they are bound to know what they are about. 
Ignorance in such a matter, is like the drunkard’s plea of 
intoxication ; it merely makes the offence worse.” 

“ Do you not think, Mr. John, that Mr. Effingham might 
have acquainted these citizens with the real state of the 
case ? Are the people so very wrong that they have fallen 
into a mistake ? ” 

“ Since you ask this question plainly, Mr. Bragg, it shall 
be answered with equal sincerity. Mr. Effingham is a man 
of mature years ; the known child, executor, and heir of 
one who, it is admitted all round, was the master of the 
controverted property. Knowing his own business, this 
Mr. Effingham, in sight of the grave of his fathers, beneath 
the paternal roof, has the intolerable impudence ” 


208 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“Arrogance is the word, Jack,” said Mr. Effingham, 
smiling. 

“ Aye, the intolerable arrogance to suppose that his own 
is his own ; and this he dares to affirm, without having had 
the politeness to send his title-deeds and private papers 
round to those who have been so short a time in the place, 
that they might well know everything that has occurred 
in it for the last half century. O thou naughty, arrogant 
fellow, Ned ! ” 

“ Mr. John, you appear to forget that the public has 
more claims to be treated with attention than a single in- 
dividual. If it has fallen into error, it ought to be unde- 
ceived.” 

“No doubt, sir; and I advise Mr. Effingham to send 
you, his agent, to every man, woman, and child in the 
county, with the Patent of the King, all the mesne con- 
veyances and wills, in your pocket, in order that you may 
read them at length to each individual, with a view that 
every man, woman, and child, may be satisfied that he or 
she is not the owner of Edward Effingham’s lands ! ” 

“ Nay, sir, a shorter process might be adopted.” 

“ It might, indeed, sir, and such a process has been 
adopted by my cousin, in giving the usual notice, in the 
newspaper, against trespassing. But, Mr. Bragg, you 
must know that I took great pains, three years since, when 
repairing this house, to correct the mistake on this very 
point, into which I found that your immaculate public 
had fallen, through its disposition to. know more of other 
people’s affairs than those concerned knew of themselves.” 

Aristabulus said no more, but gave the matter up in de- 
spair. On quitting the house, he proceeded forthwith to 
inform those most interested of the determination of Mr. 
Effingham not to be trampled on by any pretended meet- 
ing of the public. Common sense, not to say common 
honesty, began to resume its sway, and prudence put in 
its plea, by way of applying the corrective. Both he and 
Mr. Dodge, however, agreed that there was an unheard- 
of temerity in thus resisting the people, and this too with- 
out a commensurate object, as the pecuniary value of the 
disputed point was of no material consequence to either 
party. 

The Reader is not by any means to suppose that Arista- 


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209 


bulus Bragg and Steadfast Dodge belonged to the same 
variety of the human species, in consequence of their 
unity of sentiment in this affair, and certain other general 
points of resemblance in their manner and modes of think- 
ing. As a matter of necessity, each partook of those 
features of caste, condition, origin, and association, that 
characterize their particular set ; but when it came to the 
nicer distinctions that mark true individuality, it would 
not have been easy to find two men more essentially dif- 
ferent in character. The first was bold, morally and phy- 
sically, aspiring, self-possessed, shrewd, singularly adapted 
to succeed in his schemes where he knew the parties, 
intelligent after his tastes, and apt. Had it been his fort- 
une to be thrown earlier into a better sphere, the same 
natural qualities that rendered him so expert in his pre- 
sent situation would have conduced to his improvement, 
and most probably would have formed a gentleman, a 
scholar, and one who could have contributed largely to 
the welfare and tastes of his fellow-creatures. That such 
was not his fate, was more his misfortune thnn his fault, 
for his plastic character had readily taken the impression 
of those things that from propinquity alone pressed hard- 
est on it. On the other hand Steadfast was a hypocrite by 
nature, cowardly, envious, and malignant ; and circum- 
stances had only lent their aid to the natural tendencies 
of his disposition. That two men so differently consti- 
tuted at their births, should meet, as it might be, in a 
common centre, in so many of their habits and opinions, 
was merely the result of accident and education. 

Among the other points of resemblance between these 
two persons, was that fault of confounding the cause with 
the effects of the peculiar institutions under which they 
had been educated and lived. Because the law gave to 
the public that authority which, under other systems, is 
intrusted either to one or to the few, they believed the 
public was invested with far more power than a right un- 
derstanding of their own principles would have shown. 
In a word, both these persons made a mistake which is 
getting to be too common in America, that of supposing 
the institutions of the country were all means and no end. 
Under this erroneous impression they saw only the ma- 
chinery of the government, becoming entirely forgetful 
14 


210 


HOME AS FOUND. 


that the power which was given to the people collectively, 
was only so given to secure to them as perfect a liberty 
as possible, in their characters of individuals. Neither 
had risen sufficiently above vulgar notions, to understand 
that public opinion, in order to be omnipotent, or even 
formidable beyond the inflictions of the moment, must be 
right ; and that if a solitary man renders himself contempt- 
ible by taking up false notions inconsiderately and un- 
justly, bodies of men, falling into the same error, incur 
the same penalties, with the additional stigma of having 
acted as cowards. 

There was also another common mistake into which 
Messrs. Bragg and Dodge had permitted themselves to fall, 
through the want of a proper distinction between princi- 
ples. Resisting the popular will, on the part of an indi- 
vidual, they considered arrogance and aristocracy,/^^, 
without at all entering into the question of the right or the 
wrong. The people, rightly enough in the general signifi- 
cation of the term, they deemed to be sovereign ; and they 
belonged to a numerous class, who view disobedience to 
the sovereign in a democracy, although it be in his illegal 
caprices, very much as the subject of a despot views diso- 
bedience to his prince. 

It is scarcely necessary to say, that Mr. Effingham and 
his cousin viewed these matters differently. Clear-headed, 
just-minded, and liberal in all his practices, the former, in 
particular, was greatly pained by the recent occurrence ; 
and he paced his library in silence, for several minutes 
after Mr. Bragg and his companion had withdrawn, really 
too much grieved to speak. 

“ This is altogether a most extraordinary procedure, 
John,” he at length observes, “and it strikes me that it is 
but an indifferent reward for the liberality with which I 
have permitted others to use my property these thirty 
years ; often, very often, as you well know, to my own dis- 
comfort, and to that of my friends.” 

“ I have told you, Ned, that you were not to expect the 
America on your return, that you left behind you on your 
departure for Europe. I insist that no country has so much 
altered for the worse in so short a time.” 

“ That unequalled pecuniary prosperity should sensibly 
impair the manners of what is termed the world, by intro- 


HOME AS FOUND. 


211 


during suddenly large bodies of uninstructed and untrained 
men and women into society, is a natural consequence of 
obvious causes ; that it should corrupt morals even, we have 
a right to expect, for we are taught to believe it the most 
corrupting influence under which man can live ; but I con- 
fess I did not expect to see the day when a body of stran- 
gers, birds of passage, creatures. of an hour, should assume 
a right to call on the old and long-established inhabitants 
of a country to prove their claims to their possessions, and 
this, too, in an unusual and unheard-of manner, under the 
penalty of being violently deprived of them ! ” 

“Long-established!” repeated John Effingham, laugh- 
ing ; “ what do you term long-established ? Have you not 
been absent a dozen years, and do not these people reduce 
everything to the level of their own habits ? I suppose, 
now, you fancy you can go to Rome, or Jerusalem, or Con- 
stantinople, and remain four or five lustra, and then come 
coolly back to Templeton, and, on taking possession of this 
house again, call yourself an old resident.” 

“ I certainly do supposeT have that right. How many 
English, Russians, and Germans did we meet in Italy, the 
residents of years, who still retained all their natural and 
local rights and feelings ! ” 

“Aye, that is in countries where society is permanent, 
and men get accustomed to look on the same objects, hear 
the same names, and see the same faces for their entire 
lives. I have had the curiosity to inquire, and have as- 
certained that none of the old, permanent families have 
been active in this affair of the Point, but that all the 
clamor has been made by those you call the birds of pas- 
sage. But what of that ? These people fancy everything 
reduced to the legal six months required to vote ; and that 
rotation in persons is as necessary to republicanism as ro- 
tation in office.” 

“ Is it not extraordinary that persons who can know so 
little on the subject, should be thus indiscreet and pos- 
itive ? ” 

“It is not extraordinary in America. Look about you, 
Ned, and you will see adventurers uppermost everywhere ; 
in the government, in the towns, in your villages, in the 
country, even. We are a nation of changes. Much of 
this, I admit, is the fair consequence of legitimate causes, 


212 


HOME AS FOUND. 


as an immense region, in forest, cannot be peopled on any 
other conditions. But this necessity has infected the en- 
tire national character, and men get to be impatient of 
any sameness, even though it be useful. Everything goes 
to confirm this feeling, instead of opposing it. The con- 
stant recurrences of the elections accustom men to changes 
in their public functionaries ; the great increase in the 
population brings new faces ; and the sudden accumula- 
tions of property place new men in conspicuous stations. 
The architecture of the country is barely becoming suf- 
ficiently respectable to render it desirable to preserve the 
buildings, without which we shall have no monuments to 
revere. In short, everything contributes to produce such 
a state of things, painful as it may be to all of any feeling, 
and little to oppose it.” 

“You color highly, Jack ; and no picture loses in tints, 
in being retouched by you.” 

“ Look into the first paper that offers, and you will see 
the young men of the country hardily invited to meet by 
themselves, to consult concerning public affairs, as if they 
were impatient of the counsels and experience of their 
fathers. No country can prosper where the ordinary mode 
of transacting the business connected with the root of the 
government commences with this impiety.” 

“ This is a disagreeable feature in the national charac- 
ter, certainly ; but you must remember the arts employed 
by the designing to practise on the inexperienced.” 

“Had I a son who presumed to denounce the wisdom 
and experience of his father, in this disrespectful manner, 
I would disinherit the rascal ! ” 

“Ah, Jack, bachelors’ children are notoriously well edu- 
cated and well mannered. We will hope, however, that time 
will bring its changes also, and that one of them will be a 
greater constancy in persons, things, and the affections.” 

“Time will bring its changes, Ned; but all of them 
that are connected with individual rights, as opposed to 
popular caprice or popular interests, are likely to be in 
the wrong direction.” 

“ The tendency is certainly to substitute popularity for 
the right, but we must take the good with the bad. Even 
you, Jack, would not exchange this popular oppression 
for any other system under which you have lived.” 


HOME AS FOUND. 


213 


“ I don’t know that — I don’t know that. Of all tyranny, 
a vulgar tyranny is to me the most odious.” 

“You used to admire the English system, but I think 
observation has lessened your particular admiration in 
that quarter,” said Mr. Effingham, smiling in a way that 
his cousin perfectly understood. 

“ Harkee, Ned, we all take up false notions in our youth, 
and this was one of mine ; but of the two, I should prefer 
the cold, dogged domination of English law r , with its fruits, 
the heartlessness of a sophistication without parallel, to 
being trampled on by every arrant blackguard that may 
happen to traverse this valley in his wanderings after 
dollars. There is one thing you yourself must admit ; 
the public is a little too apt to neglect the duties it ought 
to discharge, and to assume duties it has no right to fulfil.” 

This remark ended the discourse. 


CHAPTER XVI. 

“ Her breast was a brave palace, a broad street, 

Where all heroic, ample thoughts did meet, 

Where nature such a tenement had ta’en, 

That other souls, to hers, dwell in a lane.” 

John Norton. 

The village of Templeton, it has been already intimated, 
was a miniature town. Although it contained within the 
circle of its houses, half a dozen residences with grounds, 
and which were dignified with names, as has also been said, 
it did not cover a surface of more than a mile square ; that 
disposition to concentration, which is as peculiar to an 
American town, as the disposition to diffusion is peculiar 
to the country population, and which seems almost to pre- 
scribe that a private dwelling shall have but three windows 
in front, and a facade of twenty-five feet, having presided 
at the birth of this spot, as well as at the birth of so many 
of its predecessors and contemporaries. In one of its more 
retired streets (for Templeton had its publicity and retire- 
ment, the latter after a very village fashion, however), 
dwelt a widow-bewitched of sfnall worldly means, five chil- 
dren, and of great capacity for circulating intelligence. 


214 


HOME AS FOUND. 


Mrs. Abbott, for so was this demi-relict called, was just on 
the verge of what is termed the “ good society ” of the vil- 
lage, the most uneasy of all positions for an ambitious and 
ci-devant pretty woman to be placed in. She had not yet 
abandoned the hope of obtaining a divorce and its suites ; 
was singularly, nay, rabidly devout, if we may coin the ad- 
verb ; in her own eyes she was perfection, in those of her 
neighbors slightly objectionable ; and she was altogether a 
droll, and by no means an unusual compound of piety, 
censoriousness, charity, proscription, gossip, kindness, 
meddling, ill-nature, and decency. 

The establishment of Mrs. Abbott, like her house, was 
necessarily very small, and she kept no servant but a girl 
she called her help — a very suitable appellation by the way, 
as they did most of the work of the menage in common. 
This girl, in addition to cooking and washing, was the con- 
fidante of all her employer’s wandering notions of man- 
kind in general, and of her neighbors in particular ; as 
often helping her mistress in circulating her comments on 
the latter, as in anything else. 

Mrs. Abbott knew nothing of the Eflinghams, except by 
a hearsay that got its intelligence from her own school, 
being herself a late arrival in the place. She had selected 
Templeton as a residence on account of its cheapness, and 
having neglected to comply with the forms of the world, 
by hesitating about making the customary visit to the Wig- 
wam, she began to resent, in her spirit at least, Eve’s deli- 
cate forbearance from obtruding herself where, agreeably 
to all usage, she had a perfect right to suppose she was not 
desired. It was in this spirit, then, that she sat conversing 
with Jenny, as the maid-of-all-work was called, the morn- 
ing after the conversation related in the last chapter, in her 
snug little parlor, sometimes plying her needle, and oftener 
thrusting her head out of a window which commanded a 
view of the principal street of the place, in order to see what 
her neighbors might be about. 

“This is a most extraordinary course Mr. Effingham has 
taken concerning the Point,” said Mrs. Abbott, “ and I do 
hope the people will bring him to his senses. Why, Jenny, 
the public has used that place ever since I can remember, 
and I have now lived in Templeton quite fifteen months. 
What can induce Mr. Howel to go so often to that barber’s 


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215 


shop, which stands directly opposite the parlor windows 
of Mrs. Bennett-one would think the man was all 
beard.” 

“ I suppose Mr. Howel gets shaved sometimes,” said the 
logical Jenny. 

“ Not he ; or if he does, no decent man would think of 
posting himself before a lady’s window to do such a thing. 
Orlando Furioso,” calling to her eldest son, a boy of eleven, 
“ run over to Mr. Jones’s store and listen to what the peo- 
ple are talking about, and bring me back the news, as soon 
as anything worth hearing drops from anybody ; and stop 
as you come back, my son, and borrow neighbor Brown’s 
gridiron. Jenny, it is most time to think of putting over 
the potatoes.” 

“ Ma,” cried Orlando Furioso, from the front door, 
Mrs. Abbott being very rigid in requiring that all her chil- 
dren should call her “ma,” being so much behind the age 
as actually not to know that “ mother ” had got to be much 
the genteeler term of the two ; “ Ma,” roared Orlando 
Furioso, “suppose there is no news at Mr. Jones’s store ?” 

“ Then go to the nearest tavern ; something must be stir- 
ring this fine morning, and I am dying to know what it can 
possibly be. Mind you bring something besides the grid- 
iron back with you. Hurry, or never come home again as 
long as you live ! As I was saying, Jenny, the right of the 
public, which is our right, for we are part of the public, 
to this Point, is as clear as day, and I am only astonished 
at the impudence of Mr. Effingham in pretending to deny 
it. I dare say his French daughter has put him up to it. 
They say she is monstrous arrogant ! ” 

“ Is Eve Effingham French,” said Jenny, studiously 
avoiding any of the usual terms of civility and propriety, 
by way of showing her breeding — “ well, I had always 
thought her nothing but Templeton born ! ” 

“ What signifies where a person was born ? where they 
live is the essential thing ; and Eve Effingham has lived so 
long in France, that she speaks nothing but broken English ; 
and Miss Debby told me last week, that in drawing up a 
subscription paper for a new cushion to the reading-desk 
of her people, she actually spelt ‘charity’ ‘carrotty.’” 

“ Is that French, Miss Abbott ?” 

“I rather think it is, Jenny ; the French are very nig- 


2l6 


HOME AS FOUND. 


gardly, and give their poor carrots to live on, and so they 
have adopted the word, I suppose. You, Byansy-Alzumy- 
Ann (Bianca- Alzuma-Ann) ! ” 

“ Marm ! ” 

“ Byansy-Alzumy-Ann ! who taught you to call me 
marm ? Is this the way you have learned your catechism ? 
Say ma, this instant.” 

“ Ma.” 

“ Take your bonnet, my child, and run down to Mrs. 
Wheaton’s, and ask her if anything new has turned up 
about the Point this morning ; and, do you hear, Byansy- 
Alzumy-Ann Abbott — how the child starts away, as if she 
were sent on a matter of life and death ! ” 

“Why, ma, I want to hear the news, too.” 

“ Very likely, my dear, but by stopping to get your er- 
rand, you may learn more than by being in such a hurry. 
Stop in at Mrs. Green’s, and ask how the people liked the 
lecture of the strange parson last evening — andr ask her 
if she can lend me a watering-pot. Now, run, and be 
back as soon as possible. Never loiter when you carry 
news, child.” 

“No one has a right to stop the man, I believe, Miss 
Abbott,” put in Jenny, very appositely. 

“That, indeed, have they not, or else we could not cal- 
culate the consequences. You may remember, Jenny, the 
pious, even, had to give up that point, public convenience 
being too strong for them. Roger-Demetrius-Benjamin ! ,r 
— calling to a second boy, two years younger than his 
brother — “ your eyes are better than mine — who are all 
those people collected together in the street? Is not Mr. 
Howel among them?” 

“ I do not know, ma ! ” answered Roger-Demetrius- 
Benjamin, gaping 

“Then run this minute and see, and don’t stop to look 
for your hat. As you come back, step into the tailor’s 
shop and ask if your new jacket is most done, and what the 
news is ? I rather think, Jenny, we shall find out some- 
thing worth hearing in the course of the day. By the way, 
they do say that Grace Van Cortlandt, Eve Effingham’s 
cousin, is under concern.” 

“Well, she is the last person I should think would be 
troubled about anything, for everybody says she is so des- 


HOME AS FOUND. 


217 


perate rich she might eat off of silver if she liked ; and 
she is sure of being married some time or other.” 

“That ought to lighten her concern, you think. Oh ! it 
does my heart good when I see any of those flaunty peo- 
ple right well exercised ! Nothing would make me hap- 
pier than to see Eve Effingham groaning fairly in the 
spirit ! That w r ouId teach her to take away the people’s 
Points.” 

“ But, Miss Abbott, then she would become almost as 
good a woman as you are yourself.” 

“I am a miserable, graceless, awfully wicked sinner! 
Twenty times a day do I doubt whether I am actually con- 
verted or not. Sin has got such a hold of my very heart- 
strings, that I sometimes think they will crack before it 
lets go. Rinaldo-Rinaldini-Timothy, my child, do you 
toddle across the way, and give my compliments to Mrs. 
Hulbert, and inquire if it be true that young Dickson, the 
lawyer, is really engaged to Aspasia Tubbs or not? and 
borrow a skimmer or a tin pot, or anything you can carry, 
for we may want something of the sort in the course of 
the day. I do believe, Jenny, that a worse creature than 
myself is hardly to be found in Templeton.” 

“ Why, Miss Abbott,” returned Jenny, who had heard 
too much of this self-abasement to be much alarmed at it, 
“this is giving almost as bad an account of yourself as I 
heard somebody, that I won’t name, give of you last week.” 

“And who is your somebody, I should like to know ? I 
dare say one no better than a formalist, who thinks that 
reading prayers out of a book, kneeling, bowing, and 
changing gowns, is religion! Thank Heaven, I’m pretty 
indifferent to the opinions of such people. Harkee, Jenny, 
if I thought I was no better than some persons I could 
name, I’d give the point of salvation up in despair!” 

“ Miss Abbott,” roared a ragged, dirty-faced, bare-footed 
boy, who entered without knocking, and stood in the mid- 
dle of the room, with his hat on, with a suddenness that 
denoted great readiness in entering other people’s posses- 
sions ; “ Miss Abbott, ma wants to know if you are likely 
to go from home this week ? ” 

“ Why, what in nature can she want to know that for, 
Ordeal Bumgrum ? ” Mrs. Abbott pronounced this singu- 
lar name, however, “Ordeel.” 


218 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“ Oh ! she wapfits to know.” 

“ So do I warnt to know ; and know T will. Run home 
this instant, and ask your mother why she has sent you 
here with this message. Jenny, I am much exercised to 
find out the reason Mrs. Bumgrum should have sent Ordeal 
over with such a question.” 

“ I did hear that Miss Bumgrum intended to make a 
journey herself, and she may want your company.” 

“ Here comes Ordeal back, and we shall soon be out of 
the clouds. What a boy that is for errands J He is worth 
all my sons put together. You never see him losing time 
by going round by the streets, but away he goes over the 
garden fences like a cat, or he will whip through a house, 
if standing in his way, as if he were its owner, should the 
door happen to be open. Well, Ordeal ? ” 

But Ordeal was out of breath, and although Jenny shook 
him, as if to shake the news out of him, and Mrs. Abbott 
actually shook her fist, in her impatience to be enlightened, 
nothing could induce the child to speak until he had recov- 
ered his wind. 

“ I believe he does it on purpose,” said the provoked 
maid. 

“ It’s just like him ! ” cried the mistress ; “the very best 
newscarrier in the village is actually spoilt because he is 
thick-winded.” 

“ I wish folks wouldn’t make their fences so high,” Or- 
deal exclaimed, the instant he found breath. “ I can’t see 
of what use it is to make a fence people can’t climb ! ” 

“What does your mother say ? ” cried Jenny, repeating 
her shake con amore. 

“Ma wants to know, Miss Abbott, if you don’t intend to 
use it yourself, if you will lend her your name for a few 
days to go to Utica with ? She says folks don’t treat her 
half as well when she is called Bumgrum as when she has 
another name, and she thinks she’d like to try yours this 
time.” 

“ Is that all ! You needn’t have been so hurried about 
such a trifle, Ordeal. Give my compliments to your 
mother, and tell her she is quite welcome to my name, and 
I hope it will be serviceable to her.” 

“ She says she is willing to pay for the use of it, if you 
will tell her what the damage will be.” 


HOME AS FOUND. 


219 


“ Oh ! it’s not worth while to speak of such a trifle ; I 
dare say she will bring.it back quite as good as when she 
took it away. 1 am no such unneighborly or aristocratical 
person as to wish to keep my name all to myself. Tell 
your mother she is welcome to mine, and to keep it as long 
as she likes, and not to say anything about pay ; I may 
want to borrow hers, or something else, one of these days, 
though, to say the truth, my neighbors are apt to complain 
of me as unfriendly and proud for not borrowing as much 
as a good neighbor ought.” 

Ordeal departed, leaving Mrs. Abbott in some such con- 
dition as that of the man who had no shadow. A rap at 
the door interrupted the further discussion of the old sub- 
ject, and Mr. Steadfast Dodge appeared in answer to the 
permission to enter.. Mr. Dodge and Mrs. Abbott were 
congenial spirits in the way of news, he living by it, and 
she living on it. 

“You are very welcome, Mr. Dodge,” the mistress of 
the house commenced. “ I hear you passed the day yes- 
terday up at the EfAnghamses.” 

“ Why, yes, Mrs. Abbott, the Eflinghams insisted on it, 
and I could not well get over the sacrifice, after having 
been their shipmate so long. Besides, it is a little relief to 
talk French when one has been so long in the daily prac- 
tice of it.” 

“ I hear there is company at the house ?” 

“ Two of our fellow-travellers, merely. An English bar- 
onet, and a young man of whom less is known than one 
could wish. He is a mysterious person, and I hate mys- 
tery, Mrs. Abbott.” 

“ In that, then, Mr. Dodge, you and I are alike. I think 
everything should be known. Indeed, that is not a free 
country in which there are any secrets. I keep nothing 
from my neighbors, and, to own the truth, I do not like 
my neighbors to keep anything from me.” 

“ Then you’ll hardly like the Eflinghams, for I never yet 
met with a more close-mouthed family. Although I was 
so long in the ship with Miss Eve, I never heard her once 
speak of her want of appetite, of sea-sickness, or of any- 
thing relating to her ailings even ; nor can you imagine how 
close she is on the subject of the beaux ; I do not think I 
ever heard her use the word, or so much as allude to any 


220 


HOME AS FOUND. 


walk or ride she ever took with a single man. I set her 
down, Mrs. Abbott, as unqualifiedly artful ! ” 

“ That you may with certainty, sir, for there is no more 
sure sign that a young woman is all the while thinking of 
the beaux than her never mentioning them.” 

“ That I believe to be human nature ; no ingenuous per- 
son ever thinks much of the particular subject of conver- 
sation. What is your opinion, Mrs. Abbott, of the contem- 
plated match at the Wigwam ? ” 

“ Match ! ” exclaimed Mrs. Abbott. “ What already ! It 
is the most indecent thing I ever heard of ! Why, Mr. 
Dodge, the family has not been home a fortnight, and to 
think so soon of getting married ! It is quite as bad as a 
widower’s marrying within the month.” 

Mrs. Abbott made a distinction, habitually, between the 
cases of widowers and widows, as the first, she maintained, 
might get married whenever they pleased, and the latter 
only when they got offers; and she felt just that sort of 
horror of a man’s thinking of marrying too soon after the 
death of his wife, as might be expected in one who actually 
thought of a second husband before the first was dead. 

“ Why, yes,” returned Steadfast, “ it is a little premature, 
perhaps, though they have been long acquainted. Still, as 
you say, it would be more decent to wait and see what 
may turn up in a country, that, to them, may be said to be 
a foreign land.” 

“ But who are the parties, Mr. Dodge ? ” 

“Miss Eve Effingham and Mr. John Effingham.” 

“Mr. John Effingham ! ” exclaimed the lady who had 
lent her name to a neighbor, aghast, for this was knocking 
one of her own day-dreams in the head ; “well, this is too 
much ! But he shall not marry her, sir ; the law will pre- 
vent it, and we live in a country of laws. A man cannot 
marry his own niece.” 

“ It is excessively improper, and ought to be put a stop to. 
And yet these Effinghams do very much as they please.” 

“ I am very sorry to hear that ; they are extremely dis- 
agreeable,” said Mrs. Abbott, with a look of eager inquiry, 
as if afraid the answer might be in the negative. 

“ As much so as possible ; they have hardly a way that 
you would like, my dear ma’am ; and are as close-mouthed 
as if they were afraid of committing themselves.” 


HOME AS FOUND. 


221 


“ Desperate bad news-carriers, I am told, Mr. Dodge. 
There is Dorindy (Dorinda) Mudge, who was employed 
there by Eve and Grace one day ; she tells me she tried all 
she could to get them to talk, by speaking of the most com- 
mon things ; things that one of my children knew all about, 
such as the affairs of the neighborhood, and how people 
are getting on ; and though they would listen a little, and 
that is something, I admit, not a syllable could she get in* 
the way of answer or remark. She tells me that several 
times she had a mind to quit, for it is monstrous unpleas- 
ant to associate with your tongue-tied folks.” 

“ I dare say Miss Effingham could throw out a hint now 
and then, concerning the voyage and her late fellow-travel- 
lers,” said Steadfast, casting an uneasy glance at his com- 
panion. 

“Not she. Dorindy maintains that it is impossible to 
get a sentiment out of her concerning a single fellow-creat- 
ure. When she talked of the late unpleasant affair of poor 
neighbor Bronson’s family— a melancholy transaction that, 
Mr. Dodge, and I shouldn’t wonder if it went to nigh break 
Mrs. Bronson’s heart — but when Dorindy mentioned this, 
which is bad enough to stir the sensibility of- a frog, neither 
of my young ladies replied, or put a single question. In 
this respect Grace is as bad as Eve, and Eve is as bad as 
Grace, they say. Instead of so much as seeming to wish to 
know any more, what does Miss Eve do, but turn to some 
daubs of paintings, and point out to her cousin what she 
was pleased to term peculiarities in Swiss usages. Then 
the two hussies would talk of nature, ‘ our beautiful na- 
ture,.’ Dorindy says Eve had the impudence to call it, and 
as if human nature and its failings and backslidings were 
not a fitter subject for a young woman’s discourse, than a 
silly conversation about lakes, and rocks, and trees, as if 
she owned the nature about Templeton. It is my opinion, 
Mr. Dodge, that downright ignorance is at the bottom of it 
all, for Dorindy says that they actually know no more of 
the intricacies of the neighborhood than if they lived in 
Japan.” 

“All pride, Mrs. Abbott — rank pride. They feel them- 
selves too great to enter into the minutiae of common folks’ 
concerns. I often tried Miss Effingham, coming from Eng- 
land ; and things touching private interests, that I know 


222 


HOME AS FOUND. 


she did and must understand, she always disdainfully re- 
fused to enter into. Oh ! she is a real Tartar in her way ; 
and what she does not wish to do, you never can make her 
do ! ” 

“ Have you heard that Grace is under concern ? ” 

V Not a breath of it ; under whose preaching was she 
sitting, Mrs. Abbott ? ” 

“ That is more than I can tell you ; not under the church 
parson’s, I’ll engage ; no one ever heard of a real, active, 
regenerating, soul-reviving, spirit-groaning, and fruit-yield- 
ing conversion under his ministry.” 

“No; there is very little unction in that persuasion 
generally. How cold and apathetic they are in these soul- 
stirring times ! Not a sinner has been writhing on their 
floor, I’ll engage, nor a wretch transferred into a saint, in 
the twinkling of an eye, by that parson. Well, we have 
every reason to be grateful, Mrs. Abbott.” 

“ That we have, for most glorious have been our privi- 
leges ! To be sure that is a sinful pride that can puff up a 
wretched, sinful being like Eve Effingham to such a pass 
of conceit, as to induce her to think she is raised above 
thinking of and taking an interest in the affairs of her 
neighbors. Now, for my part, conversion has so far opened 
my heart, that I do actually feel as if I wanted to know all 
about the meanest creature in Templeton.” 

“ That’s the true spirit, Mrs. Abbott ; stick to that, and 
your redemption is secure. I only edit a newspaper, by 
way of showing an interest in mankind.” 

“ I hope, Mr. Dodge, the press does not mean to let this 
matter of the Point sleep ; the press is the true guardian 
of the public rights, and I can tell you the whole commun- 
ity looks to it for support in this crisis.” 

“ We shall not fail to do our duty,” said Mr. Dodge, look- 
ing over his shoulder, and speaking lower. • “ What ! shall 
one insignificant individual, who has not a single right 
above that of the meanest citizen in the county, oppress 
this great and powerful community ! What if Mr. Effing- 
ham does own this point of land ” 

“ But he does not own it,” interrupted Mrs. Abbott. 
“ Ever since I have known Templeton the public has 
owned it. The public, moreover, says it owns it, and what 
the public says in this happy country is law.” 


HOME AS FOUND. 


223 


“ But, allowing that the public does not own ” 

“ It does own it, Mr. Dodge,” the nameless repeated 
positively. 

“ Well, ma’am, own or no own, this is not a country in 
which the press ought to be silent, when a solitary individ- 
ual undertakes to trample on the public. Leave that 
matter to us, Mrs. Abbott ; it is in good hands, and shall 
be well taken care of.” 

“I’m piously glad of it ! ” 

“ I mention this to you as to a friend,” continued Mr. 
Dodge, cautiously drawing from his pocket a manuscript, 
which he prepared to read to his companion, who sat with 
a devouring curiosity, ready to listen. 

The manuscript of Mr. Dodge contained a professed ac- 
count of the affair of the Point. It was written obscurely, 
and was not without its contradictions, but the imagination 
of Mrs. Abbott supplied all the vacuums, and reconciled 
all the contradictions. The article was so liberal of its 
professions of contempt for Mr. Effingham, that every ra- 
tional man was compelled to wonder why a quality that is 
usually so passive, should, in this particular instance be 
aroused to so sudden and violent activity. In the way of 
facts not one was faithfully stated ; and there were several 
deliberate, unmitigated falsehoods, which went essentially 
to color the whole account. 

“ I think this will answer the purpose,” said Steadfast, 
“ and we have taken means to see that it shall be well cir- 
culated.” 

“This- will do them good,” cried Mrs. Abbott, almost 
breathless with delight. “ I hope folks will believe it.” 

“No fear of that. If it were a party thing, now, one 
half would believe it, as a matter of course, and the other 
half would not believe it, as a matter of course ; but in a 
private matter, Lord bless you, ma’am, people are always 
ready to believe anything that will give them something to 
talk about.” 

Here the tete-a-tete was interrupted by the return of Mrs. 
Abbott’s different messengers, all of whom, unlike the dove 
sent forth from the ark, brought back something in the 
way of hopes. The Point was a general theme, and 
though the several accounts flatly contradicted each other, 
Mrs. Abbott, in the general benevolence of her pious heart, 


224 


HOME AS FOUND. 


found the means to extract corroboration of her wishes 
from each. 

Mr. Dodge was as good as his word, and the account ap- 
peared. The press, throughout the country, seized with 
avidity on anything that helped to fill its columns. No 
one appeared disposed to inquire into the truth of the ac- 
count, or after the character of the original authority. It 
was in print, and that struck the great majority of the 
editors and their readers, as a sufficient sanction. Few, 
indeed were they, who lived so much under a proper self- 
control as to hesitate ; and this rank injustice was done a 
private citizen, as much without moral restraint as without 
remorse, by those who, to take their own accounts of the 
matter, were the regular and habitual champions of human 
rights ! 

John Effingham pointed out this extraordinary scene of 
reckless wrong to his wondering cousin, with the cool sar- 
casm with which he was apt to assail the weaknesses and 
crimes of the country. His firmness, united to that of his 
cousin, however, put a stop to the publication of the reso- 
lutions of Aristabulus’s meeting, and when a sufficient time 
had elapsed to prove that these prurient denouncers of their 
fellow-citizens had taken wit in their anger, he procured 
them, and had them published himself, as the most effect- 
ual means of exposing the real character of the senseless 
mob, that had thus disgraced liberty, by assuming its pro- 
fessions and its usages. 

To an observer of men, the end of this affair presented 
several strong points for comment. As soon as the truth 
became generally known in reference to the real ownership, 
and the public came to ascertain that instead of hitherto 
possessing a right, it had, in fact, been merely enjoying a 
favor, those who had committed themselves by their arro- 
gant assumptions of facts, and their indecent outrages, fell 
back on their self-love, and began to find excuses for their 
conduct in that of the other party. Mr. Effingham was 
loudly condemned for not having done the very thing, he, 
in truth, had done, viz., telling the public it did not own 
his property ; and when this was shown to be an absurdity, 
the complaint followed that what he had done, had been 
done in precisely such a mode, although it was the mode 
constantly used by every one else. From these vague and 


HOME AS FOUND. 


225 


indefinite accusations, those most implicated in the wrong 
began to deny all their own original assertions, by insisting 
that they had known all along that Mr. Effingham owned 
the property, but they did not chose he or any other man 
should presume to tell them what they knew already. I11 
short, the end of this affair exhibited human nature in its 
usual aspects of prevarication, untruth, contradiction, and 
inconsistency, notwithstanding the high profession of lib- 
erty made by those implicated ; and they who had been the 
most guilty of wrong were loudest in their complaints, as 
if they alone had suffered. 

“ This is not exhibiting the country to us, certainly, after 
so long an absence, in its best appearance,” said Mr. Effing- 
ham, “ I must admit John ; but error belongs to all regions, 
and to all classes of institutions.” 

“ Ay, Ned, make the best of it as usual ; but, if you do 
not come round to my way of thinking, before you are a 
twelvemonth older, I shall renounce prophesying. I wish 
we could get at the bottom- of Miss Effingham’s thoughts 
on this occasion.” 

“ Miss Effingham has been grieved, disappointed, nay, 
shocked,” said Eve, “ but still she will not despair of the 
Republic. None of our respectable neighbors, in the first 
place, have shared in this transaction, and that is some- 
thing ; though I confess I feel some surprise that any con- 
siderable portion of a community, that respects itself, 
should quietly allow an ignorant fragment of its own num- 
bers to misrepresent it so grossly, in an affair that so nearly 
touches its own character for common-sense and justice.” 

“ You haVe yet to learn, Miss Effingham, that men can get 
to be so saturated with liberty, that they become insensible 
to the nicer feelings. The grossest enormities are constant- 
ly committed in this good Republic of ours, under the pre- 
tence of being done by the public, and for the public. The 
public have got to bow to that bugbear, quite as submissive- 
ly as Gesler could have wished the Swiss to bow to his own 
cap, as to the cap of Rodolph’s substitute. Men will have 
idols, and the Americans have merely set up themselves.” 

“ And yet, Cbusin Jack, you would be wretched were you 
doomed to live under a system less free. I fear you have 
the affectation of sometimes saying that which you do not 
exactly feel.” 

15 


226 


HOME AS FOUND . 


CHAPTER XVII. 


“Come, these are no times to think of dreams — 

We’ll talk of dreams hereafter.” — Shakespeare. 

The day succeeding that in which the conversation just 
mentioned occurred, was one of great expectation and 
delight in the Wigwam. Mrs. Hawker and the Bloomfields 
were expected, and the morning passed away rapidly, under 
the gay buoyancy of the feelings that usually accompany 
such anticipations in a country-house. The travellers were 
to leave town the previous evening, and, though the dis- 
tance was near two hundred and thirty miles, they were 
engaged to arrive at the usual dinner hour. In speed, the 
Americans, so long as they follow the great routes, are un- 
surpassed ; and even Sir George Templemore, coming, as 
he did, from a country of macadamized roads and excellent 
posting, expressed his surprise, when given to understand 
that a journey of this length, near a hundred miles of which 
were by land moreover, was to be performed in twenty-four 
hours, the stops included. 

“ One particularly likes this rapid travelling,” he re- 
marked, “when it is to bring us. such friends as Mrs. 
Hawker.” 

“And Mrs. Bloomfield,” added Eve, quickly. “I rest 
the credit of the American females on Mrs. Bloomfield.” 

“ More so than on Mrs. Hawker, Miss Effingham ? ” 

“Not in all that is amiable, respectable, feminine, and 
lady-like ; but certainly more so in the way of mind. I 
know, Sir George Templemore, as a European, what your 
opinion is of our sex in this country.” 

“ Good heaven, my dear Miss Effingham ! — -My opinion 
of your sex, in America ! It is impossible for any one to 
entertain a higher opinion of your countrywomen — as I 
hope to show— as, I trust, my respect and admiration have 
always proved ; nay, Powis, you, as an American, will ex- 
onerate me from this want of taste — judgment — feel- 


HOME AS FOUND. 


22 ] 


Paul laughed, but told the embarrassed and really dis- 
tressed baronet, that lie should leave him in the very ex- 
cellent hands into which he had fallen. 

“You see that bird, that is sailing so prettily above the 
roofs of the village,” said Eve, pointing with her parasol 
in the direction she meant ; for the three were walking to- 
gether on the little lawn, in waiting for the appearance of 
the expected guests ; “ and I dare say you are ornithol- 
ogist enough to tell its vulgar name.” 

“ You are in the humor to be severe this morning — the 
bird is but a common swallow.” 

“One of which will not make a summer, as every one 
knows. Our cosmopolitism is already forgotten, and with 
it, I fear, our frankness.” 

“Since Powis has hoisted his national colors, I do not 
feel as free on such subjects as formerly,” returned Sir 
George, smiling. “ When I thought I had a secret ally in 
him, I was not afraid to concede a little in such things, 
but his avowal of his country has put me on my guard. 
In no case, however, shall I admit my insensibility to the 
qualities of your countrywomen. Powis, as a native, may 
take that liberty ; but, as for myself, I shall insist they are 
at least the equals of any females that I know.” 

“ In naivete , prettiness, delicacy of appearance, simplic- 
ity, and sincerity ” 

“In sincerity, think you, dear Miss Effingham?” 

“ In sincerity, above all things, dear Sir George Tern- 
plemore. Sincerity — nay, frankness is the last quality I 
should think of denying them.” 

“ But to return to Mrs. Bloomfield — she is clever, ex- 
ceedingly clever, I allow ; in w T hat is her cleverness to be 
distinguished from that of one of her sex on the other side 
of the ocean ? ” 

“In nothing, perhaps, did there exist no differences in 
national characteristics. Naples and New York are in the 
same latitude, and yet, I think you will agree with me that 
there is little resemblance in their populations.” 

“ I confess I do not understand the allusion — are you 
quicker witted, Powis ?” 

“I will not say that,” answered Paul ; “but I think I do 
comprehend Miss Effingham’s meaning. You have trav- 
elled enough to know that, as a rule, there is more aptitude 


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in a southern than in a northern people. They receive im- 
pressions more readily, and are quicker in all their per- 
ceptions.” 

“ I believe this to be true ; but then, you will allow 
that they are less constant, and have less perseverance ? ” 

“In that we are agreed, Sir George Templemore,” re- 
sumed Eve, “ though we might differ as to the cause. The 
inconstancy of which you speak, is more connected with 
moral than physical causes, perhaps, and we, of this re- 
gion, might claim an exemption from some of them. But 
Mrs. Bloomfield is to be distinguished from her European 
rivals by a frame so singularly feminine as to appear frag- 
ile ; a delicacy of exterior that, were it not for that illum- 
ined face of hers, might indicate a general feebleness ; a 
sensitiveness and quickness of intellect that amount almost 
to inspiration ; and yet all is balanced by a practical com- 
mon sense that renders her as safe a counsellor as she is 
a warm friend. This latter quality causes you sometimes 
to doubt her genius, it is so very homely and available. 
Now it is in this that I think the 'American woman, when 
she does rise above mediocrity, is particularly to be dis- 
tinguished from the European. The latter, as a genius, is 
almost always in the clouds, whereas Mrs. Bloomfield, in 
her highest flights, is either all heart or all good sense. 
The nation is practical, and the practical qualities get to 
be imparted even to its highest order of talents.” 

“ The English women are thought to be less excitable, 
and not so much under the influence of sentimentalism, 
as some of their continental neighbors.” 

“ And very justly — but ” 

“ But what, Miss Effingham — there is in all this a slight 
return to the'cosmopolitism, that reminds me of our days 
of peril and adventure. Do not conceal a thought, if you 
wish to preserve that character.” 

“Well, to be sincere, I shall say that your women live 
under a system too sophisticated and factitious to give fair 
play to common sense, at all times. What, for instance, 
can be the habitual notions of one who, professing the 
doctrines of Christianity, is accustomed to find money 
placed so very much in the ascendant, as to see it daily 
exacted in payment for the very first of the sacred offices 
of the church ? It would be as rational to contend that a 


HOME AS FOUND. 


229 


mirror which had been cracked into radii by a bullet, like 
those we have so often seen in Paris, would reflect faith- 
fully, as to suppose a mind familiarized to such abuses 
would be sensitive on practical and common sense things.” 

“ But, my dear Miss Effingham, that is all habit.” 

“ I know it is all habit, Sir George Templemore, and a 
very bad habit it is. Even your devoutest clergymen get 
so accustomed to it, as not to see the capital mistake they 
make. I do not say it is absolutely sinful, where there is 
110 compulsion ; but I hope you agree with me, Mr. Powis, 
when I say I think a clergyman ought to be so sensitive 
on such a subject, as to refuse even the little offerings for 
baptisms that it is the practice of the wealthy of this 
country to make.” 

“ I agree with, you entirely, for it would denote a more 
just perception of the nature of the office they are per- 
forming ; and they who wish to give can always make 
occasions.” 

“ A hint might be taken from Franklin, who is said to 
have asked his father, to ask a blessing on the pork-barrel, 
by way of condensation,” put in John Effingham, who 
joined them as he spoke, and who had heard a part of the 
conversation. ‘‘In this instance, an average might be 
struck in the marriage fee, that should embrace all future 
baptisms. But here comes neighbor Howel to favor us 
with his opinion. Do you like the usages of the English 
church, as respects baptisms, Howel?” 

“Excellent, the best in the world, John Effingham.” 

“ Mr. Howel is so true an Englishman,” said Eve, shak- 
ing hands cordially with their well-meaning neighbor, 
“that he would give a certificate in favor of polygamy, if 
it had a British origin.” 

“ And is not this a more natural sentiment for an Amer- 
ican than that which distrusts so much, merely because it 
comes froto that little island ? ” asked Sir George, re- 
proachfully. 

“That is a question I shall leave Mr. Howel himself to 
answer.” 

“ Why, Sir George,” observed the gentleman alluded to, 
“ I do not attribute my respect for your country, in the 
least, to origin. I endeavor to keep myself free from all 
sorts of prejudices. My admiration of England arises 


230 


HOME AS FOUND. 


from conviction, and I watch all her movements with the 
utmost jealousy, in order to see if I cannot find her trip- 
ping, though I feel bound to say I have never yet detected 
her in a single error. What a very different picture, 
France — I hope your governess is not within hearing. Miss 
Eve; it is not her fault she was born a Frenchwoman, 
and we would not wish to hurt her feelings— but what a 
different picture France presents ! I have watched her 
narrowly too, these forty years, I may say, and I have 
never yet found her right ; and this, you must allow, is a 
great deal to be said by one who is thoroughly impartial.” 

“ This is a terrible picture, indeed, Howel, to come from 
an unprejudiced man,” said John Effingham ; “ and I make 
no doubt Sir George Templemore will have a better opin- 
ion of himself for ever after — he for a valiant lion, and you 
for a true prince. But yonder is the ‘exclusive extra,’ 
which contains our party.” 

The elevated bit of lawn on which they were walking 
commanded a view of the road that led into the village, 
and the travelling vehicle engaged by Mrs. Hawker and 
her friends was now seen moving along at a rapid pace. 
Eve expressed her satisfaction, and then all resumed their 
walk, as some minutes must still elapse previously to their 
arrival. 

“ Exclusive extra ! ” repeated Sir George; “ that is a pecu- 
liar phrase, and one that denotes anything but democracy.” 

u In any other part of the world a thing would be suffi- 
ciently marked by being ‘extra,’ but here it requires the 
addition of ‘exclusive,’ in order to give it the ‘tower 
stamp,’ ” said John Effingham, with a curl of his handsome 
lip. “ Anything may be as exclusive as it please, provided 
it bear the public impress. A stage-coach being intended 
for everybody, why, the more exclusive it is, the better. 
The next thing we shall hear of will be exclusive steam- 
boats, exclusive railroads, and both for the uses of the ex- 
clusive people.” 

Sir George now seriously asked an explanation of the 
meaning of the term, when Mr. Howel informed him that 
an “ extra,” in America, meant a supernumerary coach, to 
carry any excess of the ordinary number of passengers ; 
whereas an “ exclusive extra ” meant a coach expressly en- 
gaged by a particular individual. 


HOME AS FOUND. 


231 


“ The latter, then, is American posting,” observed Sir 
George. 

“You have got the best idea of it that can be given,” 
said Paul. “ It is virtually posting with a coachman, in- 
stead of postillions, few persons in this country, where so 
much of the greater distances is done by steam, using their 
own travelling carriages. The American ‘ exclusive extra ’ 
is not only posting, but, in many of the older parts of the 
country, is posting of a very good quality.” 

“ I dare say, now, this is all wrong, if we only knew it,”' 
said the simple-minded Mr. Howel. “There is nothing 
exclusive in England, ha, Sir George ? ” 

Everybody laughed except the person who put this ques- 
tion, but the rattling of wheels and the tramping of horses 
on the village bridge, announced the near approach of the 
travellers. By the time the party had reached the great 
door in front of the house, the carriage was already in the 
grounds, and at the next moment Eve was in the arms of 
Mrs. Bloomfield. It was apparent, at a glance, that more 
than the expected number of guests was in the vehicle ; 
and as its contents were slowly discharged, the spectators 
stood around it with curiosity, to observe who would ap- 
pear. 

The first person that descended, after the exit of Mrs. 
Bloomfield, was Captain Truck, who, however, instead of 
saluting his friends, turned assiduously to the door he had 
just passed through, to assist Mrs, Hawker to alight. Not 
until this office had been done, did he even look for Eve ; 
for, so profound was the worthy captain’s admiration and 
respect for this venerable lady, that she actually had got 
to supplant our heroine., in some measure, in his heart. 
Mr. Bloomfield appeared next, and an exclamation of sur- 
prise and pleasure proceeded from both Paul and the baro- 
net, as they caught a glimpse of the face of the last of the 
travellers that got out. 

“ Ducie ! cried Sir George. “ This is even better than 
we expected.” 

“ Ducie ! ” added Paul ; “ you are several days before the 
expected time, and in excellent company.” 

The explanation, however, was very si tuple. Captain 
Ducie had found the facilities for rapid motion much 
greater than he had expected, and he reached Fort Plain, 


2 3 2 


HOME AS FOUND. 


in the eastward cars, as the remainder of the party arrived 
in the westward. Captain Truck, who had met Mrs. 
Hawker’s party in the river boat, had been intrusted with 
the duty of making arrangements, and recognizing Cap- 
tain Ducie, to their mutual surprise, while engaged in 
this employment, and ascertaining his destination, the 
latter was very cordially received into the “ exclusive ex- 
tra.” 

Mr. Effingham welcomed all his guests with the hospi- 
tality and kindness for which he was distinguished. We 
are no great admirers of the pretension to peculiar na- 
tional virtues, having ascertained, to our own satisfaction, by 
tolerably extensive observation, that the moral difference 
between men is of no great amount ; but we are almost 
tempted to say, on this occasion, that Mr. Effingham re- 
ceived his guests with American hospitality ; for if there 
be one quality that this people can claim to possess in a 
higher degree than that of most other Christian nations, it 
is that of a simple, sincere, confiding hospitality. For 
Mrs. Hawker, in common with all who knew her, the 
owner of the Wigwam entertained a profound respect; 
and though his less active mind did not take as much 
pleasure as that of his daughter in the almost intuitive in- 
telligence of Mrs. Bloomfield, he also felt for this lady a 
very friendly regard. It gave him pleasure to see Eve 
surrounded by persons of her own sex, of so high a tone of 
thought and breeding ; a tone of thought and breeding, 
moreover, that was as far removed as possible from any- 
thing strained or artificial ; and his welcomes were cordial 
in proportion. Mr. Bloomfield was a quiet, sensible, gentle- 
man-like man, whom his wife fervently loved, without mak- 
ing any parade of her attachment, and he also was one'who 
had the good sense to make himself agreeable wherever he 
went. Captain Ducie, who, Englishman-like, had required 
some urging to be induced to present himself before the 
precise hour named in his own letter, and who had seri- 
ously contemplated passing several days in a tavern, 
previous to showing himself at the Wigwam, was agree- 
ably disappointed at a reception, that would have been just 
as frank and warm, had he come without any notice at all ; 
for the Effinghams knew that the uses! which sophistica- 
tion and a crowded population perhaps render necessary 


HOME AS FOUND. 


2 33 


in older countries, were not needed in their own ; and then 
the circumstance that their quondam pursuer was so near 
a kinsman of Paul Powis, did not fail to act essentially in 
his favor. 

“We can offer but little in these retired mountains, to 
interest a traveller and a rfian of the world, Captain 
Dude,” said Mr. Effingham, when he went to pay his com- 
pliments more particularly, after the whole party was in 
the house; “but there is a common interest in our past 
adventures to talk about, after all other topics fail. When 
we met on the ocean, and you deprived us so unexpectedly 
of our friend Powis, we did not know that you had the 
better claim of affinity to his company.” 

Captain Ducie colored slightly, but he made his answer « 
with a proper degree of courtesy and gratitude. 

“ It is very true,” he added, “ Powis and myself are rela- 
tives, and I shall place all my claims to your hospitality to 
his account ; for I feel that I have been the unwilling 
cause of too much suffering to your party to bring with 
me any very pleasant recollections, notwithstanding your 
kindness in including me as a friend, in the adventures of 
which you speak.” 

“ Dangers that are happily past seldom bring very un- 
pleasant recollections, more especially when they were con- 
nected with scenes of excitement. I understand, sir, that 
the unhappy young man who was the principal cause of all 
that passed, anticipated the sentence of the law by destroy- 
ing himself.” # 

“ He was his own executioner, and the victim of a silly 
weakness that, I should think, your state of society was yet 
too young and simple to encourage. The idle vanity of 
making an appearance — a vanity, by the way, that seldom 
besets gentlemen, or the class to which it may be thought 
more properly to belong — ruins hundreds of young men in 
England, and this poor creature was of the number. I 
never was more rejoiced than when he quitted my ship, 
for the sight of so much weakness sickened one of human 
nature. Miserable as his fate proved to be, and pitiable as 
his condition really was, while in my charge, his case has 
the alleviating circumstance with me, of having made me 
acquainted with those whom it might not otherwise have 
been my good fortune to meet ! ” 


234 


HOME AS FOU.VD. 


This civil speech was properly acknowledged, and Mr. 
Effingham addressed himself to Captain Truck, to whom, 
in the hurry of the moment, he had not yet said half that 
his feelings dictated. 

“ I am rejoiced to see you under my roof, my worthy 
friend,” taking the rough hand of the old seaman between 
his own whiter and more delicate fingers, and shaking it 
with cordiality ; “ for this is being under my roof, while 
those town residences have less the air of domestication 
and familiarity. You will spend many of your holidays 
here, I trust ; and when we get a few years older we 
will begin' to prattle about the marvels we have seen in 
company.” 

The eye of Captain Truck glistened, and as he returned 
the shake by another of twice the energy, and the gentle 
pressure of Mr. Effingham by a squeeze like that of a vise, 
he said, in his honest off-hand manner — 

“The happiest hdur I ever knew, was that in which I 
discharged the pilot, the first time out, as* a ship -master ; 
the next great event of my life, in the way of happiness, 
was the moment I found myself on the deck of the Mon- 
tauk, after we had given those greasy Arabs a hint that 
their room was better than their company ; and I really 
think this very instant must be set down as the third. I 
never knew, my dear sir, how much I truly loved you and 
your daughter, until both were out of sight.” 

“ That is so kind and gallant a speech that it ought not 
to be lost on the person most concerned. Eve, my love, 
our worthy friend has just made a declaration which will 
be a novelty to you, who have not been much in the way 
of listening to speeches of this nature.” 

Mr. Effingham then acquainted his daughter with what 
Captain Truck had just said. 

“ This is certainly the first declaration of the sort I ever 
heard, and with the simplicity of an unpractised young 
woman, I here avow that the attachment is reciprocal,” 
said the smiling Eve. “ If there is ah' indiscretion in this 
hasty acknowledgment it must be ascribed to surprise, and 
to the suddenness with which I have learned my power, for 
your parvtnues are not always perfectly regulated.” 

“ I hope Ma’mselle V. A. V. is well,” returned the cap- 
tain, cordially shaking the hand the young lady had given 


HOME AS FOUND . 


2 35 


him, “ and that she enjoys herself to her liking in this out- 
landish country ? ” 

“ Mademoiselle Viefville will return you her thanks in 
person, at dinner ; and I believe she does not yet regret 
la belle France unreasonably ; as I regret it myself, in many 
particulars, it would be unjust not to permit a native of the 
country some liberty in that way.” 

“ I perceive a strange face in the room — one of the fam- 
ily, my dear young lady ? ” 

“ Not a relative, but a very old friend. Shall I have the 
pleasure of introducing you, captain ? ” 

“ I hardly dared to ask it, for I know you must have been 
overworked in this way lately, but I confess I should like 
an introduction ; I have neither introduced nor been intro- 
duced since I left New York, With the exception of the 
case of Captain Ducie, whom I made properly acquainted 
with Mrs. Hawker and her party, as you may suppose. 
They know each other regularly now, and you are saved 
the trouble of going through the ceremony yourself.” 

“And how is it with you and the Bloomfields ? Did 
Mrs. Hawker name you to them properly?” 

“ That is the most extraordinary thing of the sort I ever 
knew ! Not a word was said in the way of introduction, 
and yet I slid into an acquaintance with Mrs. Bloomfield 
so easily, that I could not tell you how it was done, if my 
life depended on it. But this very old friend of yours, 
my dear young lady ” 

“Captain Truck, Mr. Howel ; Mr. Howel, Captain Truck,” 
said Eve, imitating the most approved manner of the in- 
troductory spirit of the day-with admirable self-possession 
and gravity. “ I am fortunate in having it in my power to 
make two persons whom I so much esteem, acquainted.” 

“Captain Truck is the gentleman who commands the 
Montauk ?” said Mr. Howel, glancing at Eve, as much as 
to sav, “ am I right ? ” 

“ The very same ; and the brave seaman to whom we 
are all indebted for the happiness of standing here at this 
moment.” 

“You are to be envied, Captain Truck ; of all the men 
in your calling you are exactly the one I should most wish 
to supplant. I understand you actually go to England 
twice every year ? ” 


23 6 


HOME As FOUND . 


“ Three times, sir, when the winds permit. I have even 
seen the old island four times, between January and Janu- 
ary.” 

“ What a pleasure ! It must be the very acme of navi- s 
gation to sail between America and England ! V . 

“ It is not unpleasant, sir, from April to November, but 
the long nights, thick weather, and heavy winds knock off 
a good deal of the satisfaction for the rest of the year.” 

“ But I speak of the country ; of old England itself ; not 
of the passages.” 

“Well, England has what I call a pretty fair coast. It 
is high, and. great attention is paid to the lights ; but of 
what account is either coast or lights, if the weather is so 
thick you cannot see the end of your flying-jib-boom ! ” 

“ Mr. Howel alludes more particularly to the country, 
inland,” said Eve ; “to. the towns, the civilization, and the 
other proofs of cultivation and refinement. To the govern- 
ment especially.” 

“In my judgment, sir, the government is much too par- 
ticular about tobacco, and some other trifling things I could 
name. Then it restricts pennants to King’s ships, whereas, 
to my notion, my dear young lady, a New York packet is 
as worthy of wearing a pennant as any vessel that floats. 
I mean, of course, ships of the regular European lines, 
and not the Southern traders.” 

“ But these are merely spots on the sun, my good sir,” 
returned Mr. Howel. “ Putting a few such trifles out of 
the question, I think you will allow that England is the 
most delightful country in the world ?” 

“To be frank with you, Mr.-Howel, there is a good deal 
of hang-dog weather along in October, November, and 
December. I have known March anything but agreeable, 
and then April is just like a young girl with one of your 
melancholy novels, now smiling and now blubbering.” 

“ But the morals of the country, my dear sir ; the moral 
features of England must be a source of never dying de- 
light to a true philanthropist,” resumed Mr. Howel, as Eve, 
who perceived that the discourse. was likely to be long, 
went to join the ladies. “ An Englishman has most reason 
to be proud of the moral excellences of his country ! ” 

“Why, to be frank with you, Mr. Howel, there are some 
of the moral features of London that are anything but 


HOME AS FOUND . 


2 37 


very beautiful. If you could pass twenty-four hours in 
the neighborhood of St. Catharine’s, you would see sights 
that would throw Templeton into fits. The English are a 
handsome people, I allow ; but their morality is none of 
the best featured.” 

“ Let us be seated, sir ; I am afraid we are not exactly 
agreed on our terms, and, in order that we may continue this 
subject, I beg you will let me take a seat next you at table.” 

To this Captain Truck very cheerfully assented, and 
then the two took chairs, continuing the discourse very 
much in the blind and ambiguous manner in which it had 
been commenced. The one party insisting on seeing 
everything through the medium of an imagination that 
had got to be diseased on such subjects, or with a species 
of monomania ; while the other seemed obstinately deter- 
mined to consider the entire country as things had been 
presented* to his limited and peculiar experience, in the 
vicinity of the docks. 

“We have had a very unexpected and a very agreeable 
attendant in Captain Truck,” said Mrs. Hawker, when Eve 
had placed herself by her side, and respectfully taken one 
of her hands. “ I really think if I were to suffer shipwreck, 
or to run the hazard of captivity, I should choose to have 
both to occur in his good company.” 

“ Mrs. Hawker makes so many conquests,” observed 
Mrs. Bloomfield, “ that we are to think nothing of her 
success with this merman ; but what will you say, Miss 
Effingham, when you learn that I am also in favor, in the 
same high quarter. I shall think the better of masters, 
and boatswains, and Trinculos and Stephanos, as long as 
I live, for this specimen of their craft.” 

“ Not Trinculos and Stephanos, dear Mrs. Bloomfield ; 
for, a Vexception pres de Saturday nights, and sweethearts 
and wives, a more exemplary person in the way of liba- 
tiohs does not exist than our excellent Captain Truck. 
He is much too religious and moral for so vulgar an ex- 
cess as drinking.” 

“ Religious ! ” exclaimed Mrs. Bloomfield, in surprise. 
“ This is a merit to which I did not know he possessed the 
smallest claims. One might imagine a little superstition, 
and some short-lived repentances in gales of wind ; but 
scarcely anything as much like a trade wind, as religion ! ” 


2 3 S 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“ Then you do not know him ; for a more sincerely de- 
vout. man, though I acknowledge it is after a fashion that 
is perhaps peculiar to the ocean, is not often met with. 
At any rate, you found him attentive to our sex ? ” 

“ The pink of politeness ; and, not to embellish, there 
is a manly deference about him that is singularly agree- 
able to our frail vanity. This comes of his packet-train- 
ing, I suppose, and we may thank you for some portion 
of his merit. His tongue never tires in your praises, and 
did I not feel persuaded that your mind is madg up 
never to be the wife af aiiy republican American, I should 
fear this visit exceedingly. Notwithstanding the remark 
I made concerning my being in favor, the affair lies 
between Mrs. Hawker and yourself. I know it is not 
your habit to trifle even on that very popular subject with 
young ladies, matrimony ; but this case forms so com- 
plete an exception to the vulgar passion, that I trust you 
will overlook the indiscretion. Our golden captain, for 
copper he is not, protests that Mrs. Hawker is the most 
delightful old lady he ever knew, and that Miss Eve 
Effingham is the most delightful young lady he ever knew. 
Here, then, eadh may see the ground she occupies, and 
play her cards accordingly. I hope to be forgiven for 
touching on a subject so delicate.” 

“In the first place,” said Eve, smiling, “ I should wish to 
hear Mrs. Hawkers reply.” 

“ I have no more to say, than to express my perfect 
gratitude,” answered that lady, “ to announce a determina- 
tion not to change my condition, on account of extreme 
youth, and a disposition to abandon the field to my younger, 
if not fairer rival.” 

“ Well, then,” resumed Eve, anxious to change the sub- 
ject, for she saw that Paul was approaching their group, 
“ I believe it will be wisest in me to suspend a decision, 
circumstances leaving so much at my disposal. Time rrfhst 
show what that decision will be.” 

“ Nay,” said Mrs. Bloomfield, who saw no feeling involved 
in the trifling, “ this is unjustifiable coquetry, and I feel 
bound to ascertain how the land lies. You will remember 
I am the Captain’s confidante, and you know the fearful 
responsibility of a friend in an affair of this sort ; that of 
a friend in the duello being insignificant in comparison. 


HOME AS FO UND. 


2 39 


That I may have a testimony at need, Mr. Powis shall be 
made acquainted with the leading facts. Captain Truck 
is a devout admirer of this young lady, sir, and 1 am en- 
deavoring to discover whether he ought to hang himself 
on her father’s lawn this evening, as soon as the moon rises, 
or live another week. In order to do this, I shall pursue 
the categorical and inquisitorial method, and so defend 
yourself, Miss Effingham. Do you object to the country 
of your admirer ? ” 

Eve, though inwardly vexed at the turn this pleasantry 
had taken, maintained a perfectly composed manner; for 
she knew that Mrs. Bloomfield had too much feminine pro- 
priety to say anything improper, or anything that might 
seriously embarrass her. 

“ It would, indeed, be extraordinary, should I object to a 
country which is not only my own, but which has so long 
been that of my ancestors,” she answered, steadily. “ On 
this score my knight has nothing to fear.” 

“ I rejoice to hear this,” returned Mrs. Bloomfield, glanc- 
ing her eyes, unconsciously to herself, however, toward 
Sir George Templemore, “and, Mr. Powis, you, who I be- 
lieve are a European, will learn humility in the avowal. 
Do you object to your swain that he is a seaman ? ” 

Eve blushed, notwithstanding a strong effort to appear 
composed, and, for the first time since their acquaintance, 
she felt provoked with Mrs. Bloomfield. She hesitated be- 
fore she answered in the negative, and this too in a way to 
give more meaning to her reply, although nothing could 
be further from her intentions. 

“The happy man may then be an American and a seaman! 
Here is great encouragement ! Do you object to sixty?” 

“ In any other man I should certainly consider it a blem- 
ish, as my own dear father is but fifty.” 

Mrs. Bloomfield was struck with the tremor in the voice, 
and with the air of embarrassment, in one who usually was 
so easy and collected ; and with feminine sensitiveness she 
adroitly abandoned the subject, though she often recurred 
to this stifled emotion in the course of the day, and from 
that moment she became a silent observer of Eve’s deport- 
ment with all her father’s guests. 

“This is hope enough for one day," she said, rising; 
“the profession and the flag must counterbalance the years 


240 


HOME AS FOUND. 


as best they may, and the Truck lives another revolution of 
the sun ! Mrs. Hawker, we shall be late at dinner, I see 
by the clock, unless we retire soon.” 

Both the ladies now went to their rooms ; Eve, who was 
already dressed for dinner, remaining in the drawing-room. 
Paul still stood before her, and, like herself, he seemed 
embarrassed. 

“ There are men who would be delighted to hear even 
the little that has fallen from your lips in this trifling,” lie 
said, as soon as Mrs. Bloomfield was out of hearing. “To 
be an American and a seaman, then, are not serious defects 
in your eyes ? ” 

“Am I to be made responsible for Mrs. Bloomfield’s ca- 
prices and pleasantries ? ” 

“ By no means ; but I do think you hold yourself respon- 
sible for Miss Effingham’s truth and sincerity. I can con- 
ceive of your silence, when questioned too far, but scarcely 
of any direct declaration, that shall not possess both these 
high qualities.” 

Eve looked up gratefully, for she saw that profound re- 
spect for her character dictated the remark ; but rising, 
she observed — 

“ This is making a little badinage about our honest, lion- 
hearted old captain, a very serious affair. And now, to 
show you that I am conscious of, and thankful for, your 
own compliments, I shall place you on the footing of a 
friend to both the parties, and request you will take Cap- 
tain Truck into your especial care, while he remains here. 
My father and cousin are both sincerely his friends, but 
their habits are not so much those of their guests, as yours 
will probably be ; and to you, then, I commit him, with a 
request that he may miss his ship and the ocean as little 
as possible.” 

“I would I knew how to take this charge, Miss Effing- 
ham ! To be a seaman is not always a recommendation 
with the polished, intelligent, and refined.” 

“ But when one is polished, intelligent, and refined, to 
be a seaman is to add one other particular and useful 
branch of knowledge to those which are more familiar. I 
feel certain Captain Truck will be in good hands, and now 
I will go and do my devoirs to my own especial charges, 
the ladies.” 


HOME AS FOUND, 


241 


Eve bowed as she passed the young man, and she left 
the room with as much haste as at all became her. Paul 
stood motionless quite a minute after she had vanished, 
nor did he awaken from his reverie, until aroused by an 
appeal from Captain Truck, to sustain him, in some of his 
matter-of-fact opinions concerning England, against the 
visionary and bookish notions of Mr. Howel. 

“'Who is this Mr. Powis ?” asked Mrs. Bloomfield of 
Eve, when the latter appeared in her dressing-room, with 
an unusual impatience of manner. 

“ You know, my dear Mrs. Bloomfield, that he was our 
fellow-passenger in the Montauk, and that he was of infi- 
nite service to us in escaping from the Arabs.” 

“All this I know, certainly ; but he is a European, is he 
not ? ” 

Eve scarcely ever felt more embarrassed than in answer- 
ing this simple question. 

“I believe not; at least, I think not; we thought so 
when we met him in Europe, and even until quite lately ; 
but he has avowed himself a countryman of our own, since 
his arrival at Templeton.” 

“ Has he been here long ?” 

“We found him in the village on reaching home. He 
was from Canada, and has been in waiting for his cousin, 
Captain Ducie, who came with you.” 

“ His cousin ! He has English cousins, then ! Mr. 
Ducie kept this to himself, with true English reserve. 
Captain Truck whispered something of the latter’s having 
taken out one of his passengers, the Mr. Powis, the hero 
of the rocks, but I did not know of his having found his 
way back to our — to his country. Is he as agreeable as 
Sir George Templemore ? ” 

“ Nay, Mrs. Bloomfield, I must leave you to judge of 
that for yourself. I think them both agreeable men ; but 
there is so much caprice in a woman’s tastes, that I decline 
thinking for others.” 

“ He is a seaman, I believe,” observed Mrs. Bloomfield, 
with an abstracted manner ; “ he must have been, to have 
manoeuvred and managed as I have been told he did. 
Powis — Powis — that is not one of our names, either — I 
should think he must be from the south.” 

Here Eve’s habitual truth and dignity of mind did her 
16 


242 


HOME AS FOUND. 


good service, and prevented any further betrayal of embar- 
rassment. 

“We do not know his family,” she steadily answered. 
“ That he is a gentleman, we see ; but of his origin and 
connections he never speaks.” 

“His profession would have given him the notions of a 
gentleman, for he was in the navy, I have heard, although 
I had thought it the British navy. I do not know of any 
Powises in Philadelphia, or Baltimore, or Richmond, or 
Charleston ; he must surely be from the interior.” 

Eve could scarcely condemn her friend for a curiosity 
that had not a little tormented herself, though she would 
gladly have changed the discourse. 

“ Mr. Powis would be much gratified did he know what 
a subject of interest he was suddenly become with Mrs. 
Bloomfield,” she said, smiling. 

“ I confess it all ; to be very sincere, I think him the 
most distinguished young man, in air, appearance, and ex- 
pression of countenance, I ever saw. When this is coupled 
with what I have heard of his gallantry and coolness, my 
dear, I should not be woman to feel no interest in him. I 
would give the world to know of what State he is a native 
— if native, in truth, he be.” 

“ For that we have his own word. He was born in this 
country, and was educated in our own marine.” 

“ And yet from the little that fell from him, in our first 
short conversation, he struck me as being educated above 
his profession.” 

“ Mr. Powis has seen much as a traveller ; when we met 
him in Europe, it was in a circle particularly qualified to 
improve both his mind and his manners.” 

“Europe! Your acquaintance did not then com- 
mence, like that with Sir George Templemore, in the 
packet ? ” 

“Our acquaintance with neither commenced in the pack- 
et. My father had often seen both these gentlemen, during 
our residence in different parts of Europe.” 

“ And your father’s daughter ? ” 

“ My father’s daughter, too,” said Eve, laughing. “ With 
Mr. Powis, in particular, we were acquainted under circum- 
stances that left a vivid recollection of his manliness and 
professional skill. He was of almost as much service to us 


HOME AS FOUND. 


243 


on one of the Swiss lakes, as he has subsequently been on 
the ocean.” 

All this was news to Mrs. Bloomfield, and she looked as 
if she thought the intelligence interesting. At this .moment 
the dinner-bell rang, and all the ladies descended to the 
drawing-room. The gentlemen were already assembled, 
and as Mr. Effingham led Mrs. Hawker to the table, Mrs. 
Bloomfield gaily took Eve by the arm, protesting that she 
felt herself privileged, the first day, to take a seat near the 
young mistress of the Wigwam. 

“ Mr. Powis and Sir George Templemore will not quarrel 
about the honor,” she said, in a low voice, as they proceeded 
toward the table. 

“Indeed you are in error, Mrs. Bloomfield ; Sir George 
Templemore is much better pleased with being at liberty 
to sit next my cousin Grace.” 

“ Can this be so ! ” returned the other, looking intently 
at her young friend. 

“ Indeed it is so, and I am very glad to be able to affirm 
it. How far Miss Van Cortlandt is pleased that it is so, 
time must show ; but the baronet betrays every day, and 
all day, how much he is pleased with her.” 

“ He is then a man of less taste, and judgment, and in- 
telligence, than I had thought him.” 

“Nay, dearest Mrs. Bloomfield, this is not necessarily 
true ; or, if true, need it be so openly said ?” 

“ Se non e vero , e ben trovato .” 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

“ Thine for a space are they — 

Yet shalt thou yield thy treasures up at last ; 

Thy gates shall yet give way, 

Thy bolts shall fall, inexorable past.” — Bryant. 

Captain Ducie had retired for the night, and was sitting 
reading, when a low tap at the door roused him from a 
brown study. He gave the necessary permission, and the 
door opened. 

“ I hope, Ducie, you have not forgotten the secretaire I 


244 


HOME AS FOUND. 


left among your effects,” said Paul, entering the room, 
“and concerning which I wrote* to you when you were 
still at Quebec.” 

Captain Ducie pointed to the case which was standing 
among his other luggage, on the floor of the room. 

“Thank you for this care,” said Paul, taking the secre- 
taire under his arm, and retiring toward the door ; “it con- 
tains papers of much importance to myself, and some that 
I have reason to think are of importance to others.” 

“Stop, Powis — a word before you quit me. Is Temple- 
more de trop ? ” 

“Not at all ; I have a sincere regard for Templemore, 

. and should be sorry to see him leave us.” 

“ And yet I think it singular a man of his habits should 
be rusticating among these hills,' when I know that he is 
expected to look at the Canadas, with a view to report their 
actual condition at home.” 

“ Is Sir George really intrusted with a commission of 
that sort?” inquired Paul, with interest. 

“Not with any positive commission, perhaps, for none 
was' necessary. Templemore is a rich fellow, and has no 
need 'of appointments ; but it is hoped and understood 
that he will look at the provinces, and report their condi- 
tion £o the government. I dare say he will not be im- 
peached for his negligence, though it may occasion sur- 
prise.” 

“ Good night, Ducie ; Templemore prefers a wigwam to 
your walled Quebec, and natives to colonists ; that is all.” 

In a minute, Paul was at the'door of John Effingham’s 
room, where he again tapped, and was again told to enter. 

“ Ducie has not forgotten my request, and this is the 
secretaire that contains poor Mr. Monday’s papers,” he re- 
marked, as he laid his load on a toilet-table, speaking in a 
way to show that his visit was expected. “We have, in- 
deed, neglected this duty too long, and it is to be hoped 
no injustice, or wrong to any, will £>e the consequence.” 

“Is that the package ? ” demanded John Effingham, ex- 
tending a hand to receive a bundle of papers that Paul had 
taken from the secretaire. “We will break the seals this 
moment, and ascertain what ought to be done before we 
sleep.” 

“These are papers of my own, and very precious are 


HOME AS EOUjVD. 


245 


/they,” returned the young man, regarding them a moment 
with interest, before he laid them on the toilet. “ Here are 
the papers of Mr. Monday.” 

John Effingham received the package from his young 
friend, placed the lights conveniently on the table, put on 
his spectacles, and invited Paul to be seated. The gentle- 
men were placed opposite each other, the duty pf break- 
ing the seals, and first casting an eye at the contents of the 
different documents, devolving, as a matter of course, on 
the senior of the two, who, in truth, had alone been in- 
trusted with it. 

“ Here is something signed by poor Monday himself, in 
the way of a general certificate,” observed John Effingham, 
who first read the paper, and then handed it to Paul. It 
was, in form, an unsealed letter ; and it was addressed “ to 
all whom it may concern.” The certificate itself was in 
the following words : 

“ I, John Monday, do declare and certify, that all the ac- 
companying letters and documents are genuine and au- 
thentic. Jane Dowse, to whom and from whom, are so 
many letters, was mv late mother, she having intermarried 
with Peter Dowse, the man so often named, and who led 
her into acts for which I know she has since been deeply 
repentant. In committing these papers to me, my poor 
mother left me the sole judge of the course I was to take, 
and I have put them in this form, in order that they may 
yet do good, should I be called suddenly away. All de- 
pends on discovering who the person called Bright actual- 
ly is, for he was never known to my mother by any other 
name. She knows him to have been an Englishman, how- 
ever, and thinks he was, or has been, an upper servant in 
a gentleman’s family. # John Monday.” 

This paper was dated several years back, d sign that the 
disposition to do right had existed some time in Mr. Mon- 
day ; and all the letters and other papers had been care- 
fully preserved. The latter also appeared to be regularly 
numbered, a precaution that much aided the investigations 
of the two gentlemen. The original letters spoke for them- 
selves, and the copies had been made in a clear, strong, 
mercantile hand, and with the method of one accustomed 
to business. In short, so far as the contents of the differ- 


246 


HOME AS FOUND. 


ent papers would allow, nothing was wanting to render 
the whole distinct and intelligible. 

John Effingham re&d the paper No. 1, with deliberation, 
though not aloud ; and when he had done, he handed it to 
his young friend, coolly remarking : 

“ That is the production of a deliberate villain.” 

Paul glanced his eye over the document, which was an 
original letter signed “ David Bright,” and addressed to 
“ Mrs. Jane Dowse.” It was written with exceeding art, 
made many professions of .friendship, spoke of the writer’s 
knowledge of the woman’s friends in England, and of her 
first husband in particular, and freely professed the writer’s 
desire to serve her, while it also contained several ambigu- 
ous allusions to certain means of doing so, which should be 
revealed whenever the person to whom the letter was ad- 
dressed should discover a willingness to embark in the 
undertaking. This letter was dated Philadelphia, was ad- 
dressed to one in New York, and it was old. 

“ This is, indeed, a rare specimen of villainy,” said Paul, 
as he laid down the paper, “ and has been written in some 
such spirit as that employed by the Devil when he tempted 
our common mother. I think I never read a better speci- 
men of low, wily cunning.” 

“ And judging by all that we already know, it would seem 
to have succeeded. In this letter you will find the gentle- 
man a little more explicit ; and but a little ; though he is 
evidently encouraged by the interest and curiosity be- 
trayed by the woman in this copy of the answer to his first 
epistle.” 

Paul read the letter just named, and then he laid it down 
to wait for the next, which was still in the hands of his 
companion. 

“ This is likely to prove a history of unlawful love, and 
of its miserable consequences,” said John Effingham in his 
cool manner, as he handed the answers to letter No. 1 and 
letter No. 2 to Paul. “The world is full of such unfortu- 
nate adventures, and I should think the parties English, 
by a hint or two you will find in this very honest and con- 
scientious communication. Strongly artificial, social, and 
political distinctions render expedients of this nature more 
frequent, perhaps, in Great Britain than in any other coun- 
try. Youth is the season of the passions, and many a man. 


HOME AS FOE. YD. 


247 


in the thoughtlessness of that period, lays the foundation 
of bitter regret in after life.” 

As John Effingham raised his eyes, in the act of extend- 
ing his hand toward his companion, he perceived that the 
fresh ruddy hue of his embrowned cheek deepened, until 
the color diffused itself over the whole of his fine brow. At 
first an unpleasant suspicion flashed on John Effingham, 
and he admitted it with regret, for Eve and her future hap- 
piness had got to be closely associated in his mind with 
the character and conduct of the young man ; but when 
Paul took the papers steadily, and by an effort seemed to 
subdue all unpleasant feelings, the calm dignity with w T hich 
he read them completely effaced the disagreeable distrust. 
It was then John Effingham remembered that he had once 
believed Paul himself might be the fruits of the heartless 
indiscretion he condemned. Commiseration and sympathy 
instantly took the place of the first impression, and he was 
so much absorbed w T ith these feelings that he had not taken 
up the letter which w 7 as to follow 7 , when Paul laid dowrrthe 
paper he had last been required to read, 

“ This does, indeed, sir, seem to foretell one of those pain- 
ful histories of unbridled passion, with the still more pain- 
ful consequences,” said the young man, with the steadiness 
of one who was unconscious of having a personal connection 
with any events of a nature so unpleasant. “ Let us ex- 
amine further.” 

John Effingham felt emboldened by these encouraging 
signs of unconcern, and he read the succeeding letters 
aloud, so that they learned their contents simultaneously. 
The next six or eight communications betrayed nothing 
distinctly, beyond the fact that the child which formed the 
subject of the whole correspondence was to be received 
by Peter Dowse and his wife, and to be retained as their 
own offspring, for the consideration of a considerable sum, 
with an additional engagement to pay an annuity. It ap- 
peared by these letters also, that the child, which was hy- 
pocritically alluded to' under the name of the “ pet,” had 
been actually transferred to the keeping of Jane Dow r se, 
and that several years passed after this arrangement before 
the correspondence terminated. Most of the later letters 
referred to the payment of the annuity, although they con- 
tained cold inquiries after the “ pet,” and answers so vague 


2 4 8 


HOME- AS FOr.VD. 


and general as sufficiently to prove that the term was singu- 
larly misapplied. In the whole, there where some thirty or 
forty letters, each of which had been punctually answered, 
and their dates covered a space of near twelve years. The 
perusal of all these papers consumed more than an hour, 
and when John Effingham laid his spectacles on the table, 
the village clock had. struck the hour of midnight. 

“ As yet,” he observed, “ we have learned little more 
than the fact that a child was made to take a false charac- 
ter, without possessing any other clew to the circumstan- 
ces than is given in the names of the parties, all of whom 
are evidently obscure, and one of the most material of 
whom, we are plainly told, must have borne a fictitious 
name. Even poor Monday, in possession of so much col- 
lateral testimony that we want, could not have known 
what was the precise injustice done, if any, or certainly, 
with the intentions he manifests, he would not have left 
that important particular in the dark.” 

“This is likely to prove a complicated affair,” returned 
Paul, “and it is not very clear that we can be of any im- 
mediate service. As you are probably fatigued, we may 
without impropriety defer the further examination to an- 
other time.” 

To this John Effingham assented, and Paul, during the 
short conversation that followed, brought the secretaire 
from the toilet to the table, along with the bundle of im- 
portant papers that belonged to himself, to which he had 
alluded, and busied himself in replacing the whole in the 
drawer from which they had been taken. 

“ All the formalities about the seals, that we observed 
when poor Monday gave us the packet, would now seem 
to be unnecessary,” he remarked, while thus occupied, 
“and it will probably be sufficient if I leave the secretaire 
in your room, and keep the keys myself.” 

“ One never knows,” returned John Effingham, with the 
greater caution of experience and age. “We have not 
read all the papers, and there are wax and lights before 
you ; each has his watch and seal, and it will be the work 
of a minute only, to replace everything as we left the 
package originally. When this is done, you may leave the 
secretaire, or remove it at your own pleasure.” 

“ I will leave it ; fcr though it contains so much that I 


HOME AS FOUND . 


249 


prize, and which is really of great importance to myself, 
it contains nothing for which I shall have immediate oc- 
casion.” 

“ In that case it were better that I place the package in 
which we have a common interest in an armoire , or in my 
secretaire, and that you keep your precious effects more 
immediately under your own eye.” 

“ It is immaterial, unless the case will inconvenience 
you, for I do not know that I am not happier wdien it is 
out of my sight, so long as I feel certain of its security, 
than when it is constantly before my eyes.” 

Paul said this with a forced smile, and there was a sad- 
ness in his countenance that excited the sympathy of his 
companion. The latter, however, merely bowed his assent, 
and the papers were replaced, and the secretaire was 
locked and deposited in an armoire in silence. Paul was 
then about to wish the other good night, when John 
Effingham seized his hand, and by a gentle effort induced 
him to resume his seat. An embarrassing, but short pause 
succeeded, when the latter spoke. 

“We have suffered enough in company, and have seen 
each other in situations of sufficient trial, to be friends,” 
he said. “ I should feel mortified did I believe you could 
think me influenced by an improper curiosity, in wishing 
to share more of your confidence than perhaps you are 
willing to bestow ; I trust you will attribute to its right 
motive the liberty I am now taking. Age makes some 
difference between us, and the sincere and strong interest 
1 feel in your welfare ought to give me a small claim not 
to be treated as a total stranger. So jealous and watchful 
has this interest been, I might with truth call it affection, 
that I have discovered you are not situated exactly as 
other men in your condition of life are situated, and I feel 
persuaded that the sympathy, perhaps the advice, of one 
so many years older than yourself might be useful. You 
have already said so much to me on the subject of your 
personal situation, that I almost feel a right to ask for 
more.” 

John Effingham uttered this in his mildest and most win- 
ning manner ; and few men could carry with them, on such 
an occasion, more of persuasion in their voices and looks. 
Paul’s features worked, and it was evident to his compan- 


250 


HOME AS FOUND. 


ion that he was moved, while, at the same time, he was not 
displeased. 

“ I am grateful, deeply grateful, sir, for this interest in 
my happiness,” Paul answered, “and if I knew the partic- 
ular points on which you feel any curiosity, there is noth- 
ing that I can desire to conceal. Have the further kindness 
to question me, Mr. Effingham, that I need not touch on 
things you do not care to hear.” 

“All that really concerns your welfare, would have in- 
terest with me. You have been the agent of rescuing not 
only myself, but those whom I most love, from a fate worse 
than death ; and, a childless bachelor myself, I have more 
than once thought of attempting to supply the places of 
those natural friends that I fear you have lost. Your par- 
ents ” 

“ Are both dead. I never knew either,” said Paul, who 
spoke huskily, “and will most cheerfully accept your gen- 
erous offer, if you will allow me to attach to it a single con- 
dition.” 

“ Beggars must not be choosers,” returned John Effing- 
ham, “and if you will allow me to feel this interest in you, 
and occasionally to share in the confidence of a father, I 
shall not insist on any unreasonable terms. What is your 
condition ? ” 

“ That the word money may be struck out of our vocab- 
ulary, and that you leave your will unaltered. Were the 
world to be examined, you could not find a worthier or a 
lovelier heiress than the one you have already selected, 
and whom Providence itself has given you. Compared 
with yourself, I am not rich ; but 1 have a gentleman’s in- 
come, and as I shall probably never marry, it will suffice 
for all my wants.” 

John Effingham was more pleased than he cared to ex- 
press with this frankness, and with the secret sympathy 
that had existed between them ; but he smiled at the in- 
junction ; for, with Eve’s knowledge, and her father’s entire 
approbation, he had actually made a codicil to his will, in 
which their young protector was left one-half of his large 
fortune. 

“The will may remain untouched, if you desire it,” he 
answered, evasively, “ and that condition is disposed of. I 
am glad to learn so directly from yourself, what your man- 


HOME AS FOUND. 


251 


ner of living and the reports of others had prepared me to 
hear, that you are independent. This fact alone will place 
us solely on our mutual esteem, and render the friendship 
that 1 hope is now brought within a covenant, if not now 
first established, more equal and frank. You have seen 
much of the world, Powis, for your years and profession ?” 

“ It is usual to think that men of my profession see much 
of the world, as a consequence of their pursuits ; though I 
agree with you, sir, that this is seeing the world only in a 
very limited circle. It is now several years since circum- 
stances, I might almost say the imperative order of one 
whom I was bound to obey, induced me to resign, and 
since that time I have done little else but travel. Owing 
to certain adventitious causes, I have enjoyed an access to 
European society that few of our countrymen possess, and 
I hope the advantage has not been entirely thrown away. 
It Was as a traveller on the continent of Europe that I had 
the pleasure of first meeting with Mr. and Mrs. Effingham. 
I was much abroad, even as a child, and owe some little 
skill in foreign languages to that circumstance. 

“ So my cousin has informed me. You have set the ques- 
tion of country at rest, by declaring that you arc an Ameri- 
can, and yet I find you have English relatives. Captain 
Ducie, I believe, is a kinsman ? ” 

“ He is. We are sisters’ children, though our friend- 
ship has not always been such as the connection would in- 
fer. When Ducie and mysMf met at sea, there was an 
awkwardness, if not a coolness, in the interview, that, 
coupled with my sudden return to England, I fear did not 
make the most favorable impression on those who wit- 
nessed what passed.” 

“We had confidence in your principles,” said John 
Effingham, with a frank simplicity, “and though the first 
surmises were not pleasant, perhaps, a little reflection told 
us that there was no just ground for suspicion.” 

“ Ducie is a fine, manly fellow, and has a seaman’s gen- 
erosity and sincerity. I had last parted from him on the 
field where we met as enemies, and the circumstance ren- 
dered the unexpected meeting awkward. Our wounds 
no longer smarted, it is true ; but perhaps, we both felt 
shame and sorrow that they had ever been inflicted.” 

“ It should be a very serious quarrel that could arm sis- 


252 


HOME AS FOUND. 


ters’ children against each other/' said John Effingham, 
gravely. 

“ I admit as much. But, at that time, Captain Ducie 
was not disposed to admit the consanguinity, and the of- 
fence grew out of an intemperate resentment of some im- 
putations on my birth ; between two military men, the 
issue could scarcely be avoided. Ducie challenged, and I 
Was not then in the humor to balk him. A couple of flesh- 
wounds happily terminated the affair. But an interval of 
three years had enabled my enemy to discover that he had 
not done me justice ; that I had been causelessly provoked 
to the quarrel, and that we ought to be firm friends. The 
generous desire to make suitable expiation urged him to 
seize the first occasion of coming to America that offered ; 
and when ordered to chase the Montauk, by a telegraphic 
communication from London, he was hourly expecting to 
sail for our seas, where he wished to come, expressly that 
we might meet. You will judge, therefore, how happy he 
was to find me unexpectedly in the vessel that contained 
his principal object of pursuit, thus killing, as it might 
be, two birds with one stone.” 

“And did he carry you away with him with any such 
murderous intention ? ” demanded John Effingham, smil- 
ing. 

“ By no means. Nothing could be more amicable than 
Ducie and myself got to be, when we had been a few hours 
together in his cabin. As often happens, when there have 
been violent antipathies and unreasonable prejudices, a 
nearer view of each other’s character and motives removed 
every obstacle ; and long before we reached England, two 
warmer friends could not be found, ora more frank in- 
tercourse between relatives could not be desired. You are 
aware, sir, that our English cousins do not often view their 
cisatlantic relatives with the most lenient eyes.” 

“This is but too true,” said John Effingham proudly, 
though his lip quivered as he spoke, “ and it is, in a great 
measure, the fault of that miserable mental bondage which 
has left this country, after sixty years of nominal inde- 
pendence, so much at the mercy of a hostile opinion. It 
is necessary that we respect ourselves in order that others 
respect us.” 

“ I agree with you, sir, entirely. In my case, however, 


HOME AS FOUND. 


2 53 


previous injustice disposed my relatives to receive me bet- 
ter, perhaps, than might otherwise have been the case. I 
had little to ask in the way of fortune, and feeling no dis- 
position to raise a question that might disturb the peerage 
of the Ducies, I became a favorite.” 

“ A peerage ! Both your parents, then, "were English ? ” 

“ Neither, I believe ; but the connection between the two 
countries was so close, that it can occasion no surprise a 
right of this nature should have passed into the colonies. 
My mother’s mother became the heiress of one of those 
ancient baronies that pass to the heirs-general, and, in con- 
sequence of the deaths of two brothers, these rights, which, 
however, were never actually possessed by any of the pre- 
vious generation, centred in my mother and my aunt. The 
former being dead, as was contended, without issue ” 

“You forget yourself ! ” 

“ Lawful issue,” added Paul, reddening to the temples, 
“I should have added; Mrs. Ducie who was married to 
the younger son of an English nobleman, claimed and ob- 
tained the rank. My pretension would have left the peer- 
age in abeyance, and I probably owe some little of the op- 
position I found to that circumstance. But, after Ducie’s 
generous conduct, I could not hesitate about joining in the 
application to the crown, that, by its decision, the abey- 
ance might be determined in favor of the person who was 
in possession ; and Lady Dunluce is now quietly confirmed 
in her claim.” 

‘•'There are many young men in this country who would 
cling to the hopes of a British peerage with greater te- 
nacity ! ” 

“ It is probable there are ; but my self-denial is not of a 
very high order, for it could scarcely be expected the Eng- 
lish ministers would consent to give the rank to a foreign- 
er who did not hesitate about avowing his principles and 
national feelings. I shall not say I did not covet this peer- 
age, for it would be supererogatory ; but I am born an 
American, and will die an American ; and an American 
who swaggers about such a claim is like the daw among 
the peacocks. The least that is said about it the better.” 

“You are fortunate to have escaped the journals, which 
most probably would have begraced you, by elevating you 
at once to the rank of a duke.” 


254 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“ Instead of which I had no other station than that of a 
dog in the manger. If it makes my aunt happy to be called 
Lady Dunluce, I am sure she is welcome to the privilege ; 
and when Ducie succeeds her, as will one day be the case, 
an excellent fellow will be a peer of England. Voila tout ! 
You are the only countryman,, sir, to whom I have ever 
spoken of the circumstance, and with you, I trust, it will 
remain a secret.” 

“What! am I precluded from mentioning the facts in 
my own family ? I am not the only sincere, the only warm 
friend you have in this house, Powis.” 

“ In that respect, I leave you to act your pleasure, my 
dear sir. If Mr. Effingham feels sufficient interest in my 
fortunes, to wish to hear what I have told you, let there be 
no silly mysteries — or — or Mademoiselle Viefville -” 

“ Or Nanny Sidley, or Annette,” interrupted John Effing- 
ham, with a kind smile. “ Well, trust to me for that ; but, 
before we separate for the night, I wish to ascertain be- 
yond question one other fact, although the circumstances 
you have stated scarce leave a doubt of the reply.” 

“ I understand you, sir, and did not intend to leave you 
in any uncertainty on that important particular. If there 
can be a feeling more painful than all others, with a man 
of any pride, it is to distrust the purity of his mother. 
Mine was beyond reproach, thank God, and so it was most 
clearly established or I could certainly have had no legal 
claim to the peerage. 

“ Or your fortune,” added John Effingham, drawing a 
long breath, like one suddenly relieved from an unpleas- 
ant suspicion. 

“ My fortune comes from neither parent, but from one 
of those generous dispositions, or caprices, if you will, 
that sometimes induce men to adopt those who are alien 
to their blood. My guardian adopted me, took me abroad 
with him, and placed me, quite young, in the navy, and 
dying, he finally left me all he possessed. As he was a bach- 
elor, with no near relative, and had been the artisan of 
his own fortune, I could have no hesitation about accept- 
ing the gift he so liberally bequeathed. It was coupled 
with the condition that I should retire from the service, 
travel for five years, return home, and marry. There is 
no silly forfeiture exacted in either case, but such is the 


HOME AS FOUND. 


255 


general course solemnly advised by a man who showed 
himself my true friend for so many years.” 

“ I envy him the opportunity he enjoyed of serving you. 
I hope he would have approved of your national pride, 
for I believe we must put that at the bottom of your dis- 
interestedness in the affairs of the peerage.” 

“ He would, indeed ; although he never knew .anything 
of the claim which arose out of the death of the two lords 
who preceded my aunt, and who were the brothers of my 
grandmother. My guardian was in all respects a man, 
and in nothing more than in manly national pride. While 
abroad a decoration was offered him, and he declined it 
with the character and dignity of one who felt that dis- 
tinctions which his .country repudiated every gentleman 
belonging to that country ought to reject ; and yet he did 
it with a respectful gratitude for the compliment that was 
due to the government from which the offer came.” 

“ I almost envy that man,” said John Effingham, with 
warmth. “ To have appreciated you, Powis, was a mark 
of a high judgment ; but it seems he properly appreciated 
himself, his country, and human nature.” 

“And yet he was little appreciated in his turn. That 
man passed years in one of our largest towns, of no more 
apparent account among its population than any one of 
its commoner spirits, and of not half as much as one of 
its bustling brokers or jobbers.” 

“In that there is nothing surprising. The class of the 
chosen few is too small everywhere to be very numerous 
at any given point, in a scattered population like that of 
America. The broker will as naturally appreciate the 
broker as the dog appreciates the dog, or the,wolf the wolf. 
Least of all is the manliness you have named likely to be 
valued among a people who have been put into men’s 
clothes before they are out of leading-strings. I am older 
than you, my dear Paul ” — it was the first time John Effing- 
ham ever used so familiar an appellation, and the young 
man thought it sounded kindly — “ I am older than you, 
my dear Paul, and will venture to tell you an important 
fact that may hereafter lessen some of your own mortifi- 
cations. In most nations there is a high standard to which 
man at least affects to look ; and a 'ts are extolled and 
seemingly appreciated for their naked merits. Little of 


256 


HOME -AS FOUND . 


this exists in America, where no man is much praised for 
himself, but for the purposes of party, or to feed national 
vanity. In the country in which, of all others, political 
opinion ought to be the freest, it is the most persecuted, 
and the community-character of the nation induces every 
man to think he has a right of property in all its fame. 
England exhibits, a great deal of this weakness and in- 
justice, which, it is to be feared, is a vicious fruit of 
liberty ; for it is certain that the sacred nature of opinion 
is most appreciated in those countries in which it has the 
least efficiency. We are constantly deriding those govern- 
ments which fetter opinion, and yet I know of no nation in 
which the expression of opinion is so certain to attract 
persecution and hostility as our own, though it may be, 
and is, in one sense, free.” 

“ This arises from its potency. Men quarrel about opin- 
ion here, because opinion rules. It is but one mode of 
struggling for power. But to return to my guardian ; he 
was a man to think and act for himself, and as far from the 
magazine and newspaper existence that most Americans, in 
a moral sense, pass, as any man could be.” 

“ It is indeed a newspaper and magazine existence,” said 
John Effingham, smiling at Paul’s terms, “ to know life only 
through such mediums! It is as bad as the condition of 
those English who form their notions of society from novels 
written by men and women who have no access to it, and 
from the records of the court journal. I thank you sin- 
cerely, Mr. Powis, for this confidence, which has not been 
idly solicited on my part, and which shall not be abused. 
At no distant day we wall break the seals again, and renew 
our investigations into this affair of the unfortunate Monday, 
which is not yet, certainly, very promising in the way of 
revelations.” 

The gentlemen shook hands cordially, and Paul, lighted 
by his companion, withdrew. When the young man was 
at the door of his own room he turned, and saw John Effing- 
ham following him with his eye. The latter then renewed 
the good night, with one of those winning smiles that ren- 
dered his face so brilliantly handsome, and each retired. 


HOME AS FOUND. 


257 


CHAPTER XIX. 


“ Item, a capon, 2 s. 2 d. 

Item, sauce, 4 d. 

Item, sack, two gallons, 5^. Sd. 

Item, bread, a half-penny.” — Shakespeare. 

The next day John Effingham made no allusion to the 
conversation of the previous night, though the squeeze of 
the hand he gave Paul when they met, was an assurance 
that nothing was forgotten. As he had a secret pleasure in 
obeying any injunction of Eve’s, the young man himself 
sought Captain Truck even before they had breakfasted ; 
and as he had made an acquaintance with “ the commodore ” 
on the lake, previously to the arrival of the Effinghams, 
that worthy was summoned, and regularly introduced to 
the honest ship-master. The meeting between these two 
distinguished men was grave, ceremonious, and dignified, 
-each probably feeling that he was temporarily the guardian 
of a particular portion of an element that was equally dear 
to both. After a few minutes passed, as it might be, in the 
preliminary points of etiquette, a better feeling and more 
confidence was established, and it was soon settled that 
they should fish in company the rest of the day, Paul prom- 
ising to row the ladies out on the lake, and to join them in 
the course of the afternoon. 

As the party quitted the breakfast table, Eve took an 
occasion to thank the young man for his attention to their 
common friend, who, it was reported, had taken his morn- 
ing’s repast at an early hour, and was already on the lake, 
the day by this time having advanced within two hours of 
noon. 

“ I have dared even to exceed your instructions, Miss 
Effingham,” said Paul, “ for I have promised the captain to 
endeavor to persuade you, and as many of the ladies as pos- 
sible, to trust yourselves to my seamanship, and to submit 
to be rowed out to the spot where we shall find him and his 
friend, the commodore, riding at anchor.” 

“ An engagement that my influence shall be used to see 

17 


258 


HOME AS FOUND. 


fulfilled. Mrs. Bloomfield has already expressed a desire 
to go on the Otsego-Water, and I make no doubt I shall 
find other companions. Once more let me thank you for 
this little attention, for I too well know your tastes not to 
understand that you might find a more agreeable ward.” 

“ Upon my word I feel a sincere regard for our old cap- 
tain, and could often wish for no better companion. Were 
he, however, as disagreeable as I find him, in truth, pleas- 
ant and frank, your wishes would conceal all his faults.” 

“You have learned, Mr. Powis, that small attentions are 
as much remembered as important services, and after hav- 
ing saved our lives, wish to prove that you can discharge 
les petits devoirs socials , as well as perform great deeds. I 
trust you will persuade Sir George Templemore to be of 
our party, and at four we shall be ready to accompany you ; 
until then I am contracted to a gossip with Mrs. Bloom- 
field, in her dressing-room.” 

We shall now leave the party on the land, and follow 
those who have already taken boat, or the fishermen. The 
beginning of the intercourse between the salt-water navi- 
gator and his fresh- water companion was again a little con- 
strained and critical. Their professional terms agreed as 
ill as possible, for when the captain used the expression 
“ship the oars,” the commodore understood just the re- 
verse of what it had been intended to express ; and once, 
when he told his companion to “give way,” the latter took 
the hint so literally as actually to cease rowing. All these 
professional niceties induced the worthy ship-master to 
undervalue his companion, who, in the main, was very 
skilful in his particular pursuit, though it was a skill that 
he exerted after the fashions of his own lake, and not after 
the fashions of the ocean. Owing to several contretemps of 
this nature, by the time they reached the fishing-ground 
the captain began to entertain a feeling for the commo- 
dore that ill comported with the deference due to his titu- 
lar rank. 

“ I have come out with you, commodore,” said Captain 
Truck, when they had got to their station, and laying a pe- 
culiar emphasis on the appellation he used, “ in order to 
enjoy myself, and you will confer an especial favor on me 
by not using such phrases as ; cable-rope,’ ‘ casting-anchor,’ 
and ‘ titivating.’ As for the two first, no seaman ever uses 


HOME AS FOUND. 


2 59 


them, and I never heard such a word on board a ship as 

the last. D e, sir, if I believe it is to be found in the 

dictionary, even.” 

“You amaze me, sir ! ‘ Casting anchor ’ and ‘ cable-rope ’ 
are both Bible phrases, and they must be right.” 

“That follows by no means, commodore, as I have some 
reason to know ; for my father having been a parson and I 
being a seaman, we may be said to have the whole subject, 
as it were, in the family. St. Paul — you have heard of such 
a man as St. Paul, commodore ? ” 

“I know him almost by heart, Captain Truck ; but St. 
Peter and St. Andrew were the men most after my heart. 
Ours is an ancient calling, sir, and in those two instances 
you see to what a fisherman can rise. I do not remember 
to have ever heard of a sea-captain who was converted into 
a saint.” 

“Aye, aye, there is always too much to do on board ship 
to have time to be much more than a beginner in religion. 
There was my mate, v’y’ge before last, Tom Leach, who is 
now master of a ship of his own, had he been brought up 
to it properly, he would have made as conscientious a par- 
son as did his grandfather before him. Such a man would 
have been a seaman as well as a parson. I have little to 
say against St. Peter or St. Andrew, but, in my judgment, 
they were none the better saints for having been fishermen ; 
and if the truth were known, I dare say they were at the 
bottom of introducing such lubberly phrases into the Bible 
as ‘ casting-anchor ’ and ‘ cable-rope.’ ” 

“Pray, sir,” asked the commodore, with dignity, “what 
are you in the practice of saying when you speak of such 
matters ? for to be frank with you, we always use these 
terms on these lakes.” 

“ Aye, aye, there is a fresh-water smell about them. We 
say ‘anchor,’ or ‘let go the anchor,’ or ‘dropped the 
anchor,’ or some such reasonable expression, and not ‘ cast 
anchor,’ as if a bit of iron, weighing two or three tons, is 
to be jerked about like a stone big enough to kill a bird 
wfith. As for the ‘cable-rope,’ as you call it, we say the 
‘cable,’ or ‘the chain,’ or ‘the ground tackle,’ according 
to reason and circumstances. You never hear a real ‘salt’ 
flourishing his ‘cable-ropes,’ and his ‘casting-anchors,’ 
which are altogether too sentimental and particular for 


26 o 


HOME AS FOUND. 


his manner of speaking. As for ‘ ropes,’ I suppose you 
have not got to be a commodore, and need being told Low 
many there are in a ship.” 

“ I do not pretend to have counted them, but I have seen 
a ship, sir, and one under full sail, too, and I know there 
were as many ropes about her as there are pines on the 
Vision.” 

“ Are there more than seven of these trees on your moun- 
tain ? for that is just the number of ropes in a merchant- 
man ; though a man-of-war s-man counts one or two more.” 

“You astonish me, sir! But seven ropes in a ship? — I 
should have said there are seven hundred ! ” 

“ I dare say, I dare say ; that is just the way in which a 
landsman pretends to criticise a vessel. As for the ropes, 
I will now give you their names, and then you can lay ath- 
wart hawse of these canoe gentry by the hour, and teach 
them rigging and modesty both at the same time. In the 
first place,” continued the captain, jerking at his line, and 
then beginning to count on his fingers — “there is the ‘man- 
rope ;’ then come the ‘bucket-rope,’ the ‘tiller-rope,’ the 
‘ bolt-rope,’ the ‘ foot-rope,’ the ‘ top-rope,’ and the ‘ limber- 
rope.’ I have followed the seas, now, more than half a cen- 
tury, and never yet heard of a f cable-rope,’ from any one 
who could hand, reef, and steer.” 

“ Well, sir, every man to his trade,” said the commodore, 
who just then pulled in a fine pickerel, which was the third 
he had taken, while his companion rejoiced in no more 
than a few fruitless bites. “You are more expert in ropes 
than in lines, it would seem. I shall not deny your experi- 
ence and knowledge ; but in the way of fishing, you will 
at least allow that the sea is no great school. I dare say, 
now, if you were to hook the ‘ sogdollager,’ we should 
have you jumping into the lake to get rid of him. Quite 
probably, sir, you never before heard of that celebrated 
fish ? ” 

Notwithstanding the many excellent qualities of Captain 
Truck, he had a weakness that is rather peculiar to a class 
of men who, having seen so much of this earth, are unwil- 
ling to admit they have not seen it all. The little brush 
in which he was now engaged with the commodore he 
conceived due to his own dignity, and his motive was duly 
to impress his companion with his superiority, which be- 


HOME AS FOUND . 


261 


ing fairly admitted, he would have been ready enough to 
acknowledge that the other understood pike-fishing much 
better than himself. But it was quite too early in the dis- 
cussion to make any such avowal, and the supercilious re- 
mark of the commodore putting him on his mettle, he was 
ready to affirm that he had eaten “ sogdollagers ” for break- 
fast, a month at a time, had it been necessary. 

“ Pooh ! pooh! man,” returned the captain, with an air 
of cool indifference, “you do not surely fancy that you have 
anything in a lake like this that is not to be found in the 
ocean ! If you were to see a whale’s flukes thrashing your 
puddle, every cruiser among you would run for a port ; and 
as for ‘ sogdollagers,’ we think little of them in salt water ; 
the flying-fish, or even the dry dolphin, being much the best 
eating.” 

“ Sir,” said the commodore, with some heat, and a great 
deal of emphasis, “there is but one 1 sogdollager ’ in the 
world, and he is in this lake. No man has ever seen him 
but my predecessor, the ‘Admiral,’ and myself.” 

“ Bah ! ” ejaculated the captain, “they are as plenty as 
soft clams in the Mediterranean, and the Egyptians use 
them as a pan-fish. In the East they catch them to bait 
with, for halibut and other middling sized creatures, that 
are particular about their diet. It is a good fish, I own, 
as is seen in this very circumstance.” 

“ Sir,” repeated the commodore, flourishing his hand, 
and waxing warm with earnestness, “ there is but one 
‘ sogdollager ’ in the universe, and that is in Lake Otsego. 
A ‘ sogdollager ’ is a salmon trout, and not a species ; a sort 
of father to all the salmon trout in this part of the world ; 
a scaly patriarch.” 

“ I make no doubt your ‘ sogdollager’ is scaly enough ; 
but what is the use in wasting words about such a trifle ? 
A whale is the only fish fit to occupy a gentleman’s thoughts. 
As long as I have been at sea, I have never witnessed the 
taking of more than three whales.” 

This allusion happily preserved the peace,; for, if there 
were anything in the world for which the commodore en- 
tertained a profound but obscure reverence, it was for a 
whale. He even thought better of a man for having actually 
seen one gambolling in the freedom of the ocean ; and his 
mind became suddenly oppressed by the glory of a mariner, 


262 


HOME AS FOUND. 


who had passed his life among such gigantic animals. 
Shoving back his cap, the old man gazed steadily at the 
captain a minute, and all his displeasure about the “sogf- 
dollagers” vanished, though, in his inmost mind, he set 
down all that the other had told him on that particular sub- 
ject as so many parts of a regular “ fish-story.” 

“Captain Truck,” he said, with solemnity, “ I acknowl- 
edge myself to be but an ignorant and inexperienced man, 
one who has passed his life on this lake, which, broad and 
beautiful as it is, must seem a pond in the eyes of a seaman 
like yourself, who have passed your days on the A’lan- 
tic- ” 

“ Atlantic ! ” interrupted the captain, contemptuously ; 
“ I should have but a poor opinion of myself, had I seen 
nothing but the Atlantic ! Indeed, I never can believe I 
am at sea at all on the Atlantic, the passages between New 
York and Portsmouth being little more than so much canal- 
ing along a tow-path. If you wish to say anything about 
oceans, talk of the Pacific or of the Great South Sea, where 
a man may run a month with a fair wind, and hardly go 
from island to island. Indeed, that is an ocean in which 
there is a manufactory of islands, for they turn them off 
in lots to supply the market, and of a size to suit cus- 
tomers.” 

“ A manufactory of islands I ” repeated the commodore, 
who began to entertain an awe of his companion that he 
never expected to feel for any human being on Lake Otse- 
go ; “ are you certain, sir, there is no mistake in this ?” 

“ None in the least ; not only islands, but whole archi- 
pelagos are made annually by the sea insects in that quar- 
ter of the world ; but, then, you are not to form your 
notions of an insect in such an ocean by the insects you 
see in such a bit of water as this.” 

“As big as our pickerel, or salmon trout, I dare say ? ” 
returned the commodore, in the simplicity of his heart ; for 
by this time his local and exclusive conceit was thoroughly 
humbled, and he was almost ready to believe anything. 

“ I say nothing of their size, for it is to their numbers 
and industry that I principally allude now. A solitary 
shark, I dare say, would set your whole lake in commo- 
tion ?” 

“ I think we might manage a shark, sir. I once saw 


HOME AS FOUND . 


263 


one of those animals, and I do really believe the sogdolla- 
ger would outweigh him. I do think we might manage a 
shark, sir.” 

“Aye, you mean an in-shore, high-latitude fellow. But 
what would you say to a shark as long as one of those 
pines on the mountain ? ” 

“ Such a monster would take in a man, whole ! ” 

“A man! He would take in a platoon, Indian file. I 
dare say one of those pines, now, may be thirty or forty 
feet high ! ” 

A gleam of intelligence and of exultation shot across 
the weather-beaten face of the old fisherman, for he de- 
tected a weak spot in the other’s knowledge. The worthy 
captain, with that species of exclusiveness which accompa- 
nies excellence in any one thing, was quite ignorant of 
most matters that pertain to the land. That there should 
be a tree, so far inland, that was larger than his main-yard, 
he did not think probable, although that yard itself was 
made of part of a tree ; and, in the laudable intention of 
duly impressing his companion with the superiority of a 
real seaman over a mere fresh- water navigator, he had in- 
advertently laid bare a weak spot in his estimate of heights 
and distances, that the commodore seized upon with some 
such avidity as the pike seizes the hook. This accidental 
mistake alone saved the latter from an abject submission, 
for the cool superiority of the captain had so far deprived 
him of his conceit, that he was almost ready to acknowl- 
edge himself no better than a dog, when he caught a 
glimpse of light through this opening. 

“ There is not a pine, that can be called of age, on all 
the mountain, which is not more than a hundred feet high, 
and many are nearer two,” he cried in exultation, flourish- 
ing his hand. “The sea may have its big monsters, cap- 
tain, but our hills have their big trees. Did you ever see a 
shark half that length ? ” 

Now, Captain Truck was a man of truth, although so 
much given to occasional humorous violations of its laws, 
and, withal, a little disposed to dwell upon the marvels of 
the great deep in the spirit of exaggeration, and he could 
not in conscience affirm anything so extravagant as this. 
He was accordingly obliged to admit his mistake, and from 
this moment the conversation was carried on with a greater 


264 


HOME AS FOUND . 


regard to equality. They talked, as they fished, of politics, 
religion, philosophy, human nature, the useful arts, abol- 
ition, and most other subjects that would be likely to in- 
terest a couple of Americans who had nothing to do but 
to twitch, from time to time, at two lines dangling in the 
water. Although few people possess less of the art of con- 
versation than our own countrymen, no other nation takes 
as wide a range in its discussions. He is but a very indif- 
ferent American that does not know, or thinks he knows, 
a little of everything, and neither of our worthies was in 
the least backward in supporting the claims of the national 
character in this respect. This general discussion com- 
pletely restored amity between the parties ; for, to confess 
the truth, our old friend the captain was a little rebuked 
about the affair of the tree. The only peculiarity worthy 
of notice, that occurred in the course of their various di- 
gressions, was the fact that the commodore insensibly be- 
gan to style his companion “ General ; ” the courtesy of the 
country, in his eyes, appearing to require that a man who 
had seen so much more than himself, should at least 
enjoy a title equal to his own in rank, and that of Admiral 
being proscribed by the sensitiveness of Republican prin- 
ciples. After fishing a few hours, the old laker pulled the 
skiff up to the Point so often mentioned, where he lighted 
a fire on the grass, and prepared a dinner. When every- 
thing was ready, the two seated themselves, and began to 
enjoy the fruits of their labors in a way that will be un- 
derstood by all sportsmen, 

“ I have never thought of asking you, general,” said the 
commodore, as he began to masticate a perch, “whether 
you are an aristocrat or a democrat. We have had the 
government pretty much upside-down, too, this morning, 
but this question has escaped me.” 

“ As we are here by ourselves under these venerable 
oaks, and talking like two old messmates,” returned the 
general, “ I shall just own the truth, and make no bones of 
it. I have been captain of my own ship so long, that I 
have a most thorough contempt for all equality. It is a 
vice that I deprecate, and, whatever may be the laws of 
this country, I am of opinion that equality is nowhere 
borne out by the Law of Nations ; which, after all, com- 
modore, is the only true law for a gentleman to live under.” 


HOME AS FOUND. 265 

“ That is the law of the strongest, if I understand the 
matter, general.” 

“ Only reduced to rules. The Law of Nations, to own 
the truth to you, is full of categories, and this will give an 
enterprising man an opportunity to make use of his knowl- 
edge. Would you believe, commodore, that there are 
countries in which they lay taxes on tobacco ? ” 

“Taxes on tobacco! Sir, I never heard of such an act 
of oppression under the forms of law ! What has tobacco 
done, that any one should think of taxing it ? ” 

“ I believe, commodore, that its greatest offence is being 
so general a favorite. Taxation, I have found, differs from 
most other things, generally attacking that which men 
most prize.” 

“This is quite new to me, general ; a tax on tobacco ! 
The law-makers in those countries cannot chew. I drink 
to your good health, sir, and to many happy returns of 
such banquets as this.” 

Here the commodore raised a large silver punch-bowl, 
which Pierre had furnished, to his lips, and fastening his 
eyes on the boughs of a gnarled oak, he looked like a man 
who was taking an observation, for near a minute. All 
this time, the captain regarded him with a sympathetic 
pleasure, and when the bowl was free, he imitated his ex- 
ample, levelling his own eye at a cloud that seemed float- 
ing at an angle of forty-five degrees above him, expressly 
for that purpose. 

“There is a lazy cloud!” exclaimed the general, as he 
let go his hold to catch breath ; “ I have been watching it 
some time, and it has not moved an inch.” 

“ Tobacco !” repeated the commodore, drawing along 
breath, as if he was just recovering the play of his lungs, 
“I should as soon think of laying a tax on punch. The 
country that pursues such a policy must sooner or later 
meet with a downfall. I never knew good to come of per- 
secution.” 

“ I find you are a sensible man, commodore, and regret 
I did not make your acquaintance earlier in life. Have 
you yet made up your mind on the subject of religious 
faith ? ” 

“ Why, my dear general, not to be nibbling, like a sucker 
with a sore mouth, with a person of your liberality, I shall 


266 


HOME AS FOUND . 


give you a plain history of my adventures, in the way of 
experiences, that you may judge for yourself. I was born 
an Episcopalian, if one can say so, but was converted to 
Presbyterianism at twenty. I stuck to this denomination 
about five years, when I thought I would try the Baptists, 
having got to be fond of the water by this time. At 
thirty-two I fished awhile with the Methodists ; since which 
conversion, I have chosen to worship God pretty much by 
myself, out here on the lake.” 

“ Do you consider it any harm to hook a fish of a Sun- 
day ? ” 

“ No more than it is to eat a fish of a Sunday. I go al- 
together by faith in my religion, general, for they talk so 
much to me of the uselessness of works, that I’ve got to be 
very unparticular as to what I do. Your people who have 
been converted four or five times are like so many pick- 
erel, which strike at every hook.” 

“This is very much my case. Now, on the river — of 
course you know where the river is ? ” 

“Certain,” said the commodore ; “it is at the foot of 
the lake.” 

“ My dear commodore, when we say ‘ the river,’ we al- 
ways mean the Connecticut ; and I am surprised a man of 
your sagacity should require to be told this. There are 
people on the river who contend that a ship should heave- 
to of a Sunday. They did talk of getting up an Anti-Sun- 
day-Sailing-Society, but the ship-masters were too many 
for them, since they threatened to start a society to put 
down the growing of inyens (the captain would sometimes 
use this pronunciation) except of week-days. Well, I 
started in life on the platform tack, in the way of religion, 
and I believe I shall stand on the same course till orders 
come to ‘ cast anchor,’ as you call it. With you, I hold 
out for faith, as the one thing needful. Pray, my good 
friend, what are your real sentiments concerning ‘ Old 
Hickory ’ ? ” 

“ Tough, sir ; tough as a day in February on this lake. 
All fins, and gills, and bones.” 

“That is the justest character I have yet heard of the 
old gentleman ; and then it says so much in a few words ; 
no category about it. I hope the punch is to your 
liking ? ” 


HOME AS FOUND. 


267 


On this hint the old fisherman raised the bowl a second 
time to his lips, and renewed the agreeable duty of letting 
its contents flow down his throat in a pleasant stream. 
This time he took aim at a gull that was sailing over his 
head, only relinquishing the draught as the bird settled 
into the water. The “general ” was more particular ; for 
selecting a stationary object in the top of an oak that grew 
on the mountain near him, he studied it with an admi- 
rable abstruseness of attention, until the last drop was 
drained. As soon as this startling fact was mentioned, 
however, both the convives set about repairing the accident, 
by squeezing lemons, sweetening water, and mixing liq- 
uors, secundum artem. At the same time, each lighted a 
cigar, and the conversation, for some time, was carried on 
between their teeth. 

“We have been so frank with each other to-day, my ex- 
cellent commodore,” said Captain Truck, “that did I 
know your true sentiments concerning Temperance Soci- 
eties, I should look on your inmost soul as a part of myself. 
By these free communications men get really to know 
each other.” 

“ If liquor is not made to he drunk, for what is it made ? 
Any one may see that this lake was made for skiffs and 
fishing ; it has a length, breadth, and depth suited to such 
purposes. Now, here is liquor distilled, bottled, and 
corked, and I ask if all does not show it was made to be 
drunk. I dare say your temperance men are ingenious, 
but let them answer that if they can.” 

“ I wish from my heart, my dear sir, we had known each 
other fifty years since. That would have brought you ac- 
quainted with salt-water, and left nothing to be desired in 
your character. We think alike, I believe, in everything 
but on the virtues of fresh-water. If these temperance 
people had their way, we should all be turned into so 
many Turks, who never taste wine, and yet marry a dozen 
wives.” 

“ One of the great merits of fresh-water, general, is what 
I call its mixable quality.” 

“There would be an end to Saturday nights, too, which 
are the seamen’s tea-parties.” 

“ I question if many of them fish in the rain from sunrise 
to sunset.” 


268 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“ Or stand their watches in wet pea-jackets from sunset 
to sunrise. Splicing the main-brace at such times is the 
very quintessence of human enjoyments.” 

“ If liquors were not made to be drunk,” put in the com- 
modore, logically, “ I would again ask for what are they 
made? Let the temperance men get over that difficulty if 
they can.” 

“ Commodore, I wish you twenty more good hearty years 
of fishing in this lake, which grows, each instant, more 
beautiful in my eyes, as I confess does the whole earth ; 
and to show you that I say no more than I think, I will 
clench it with a draught.” 

Captain Truck now brought his right eye to bear on the 
new moon, which happened to be at a convenient height, 
closed the left one, and continued in that attitude until the 
commodore began seriously to think he was to get nothing 
besides the lemon-seeds for his share. This apprehension, 
however, could only arise from ignorance of his compan- 
ion’s character, than whom a juster man, according to the 
notions of ship-masters, did not live ; and had one measured 
the punch that was left in the bowl when this draught was 
ended, he would have found that precisely one-half of it 
was still untouched, to a thimbleful. The commodore now 
had his turn ; and before he got through the bottom of the 
vessel was as much uppermost as the butt of a clubbed 
firelock. When the honest fisherman took breath after this 
exploit, and lowered his cup from- the vault of heaven to 
the surface of the earth, he caught a view of a boat cross- 
ing the lake, coming from the Silent Pine, to that Point 
on which they were enjoying so many agreeable hallucina- 
tions on the subject of temperance. 

“ Yonder is the party from the Wigwam,” he said, “ and 
they will be just in time to become converts to our opin- 
ions, if they have any doubts on the subject we have dis- 
cussed. Shall we give up the ground to them, by taking 
to the skiff, or do you feel disposed to face the women ? ” 

“ Under ordinary circumstances, commodore, I should 
prefer your society to all the petticoats in the State, but 
there are two ladies in that party, either of whom I would 
marry, any day, at a minute’s warning.” 

“ Sir,” said the commodore, with atone of warning, “ we 
who have lived bachelors so long, and are wedded to the 


HOME AS FOUND . 269 

Water, ought never to speak lightly on so grave a sub- 
ject” 

“Nor do I. Two women, one of whom is twenty, and 
the other seventy — and hang me if 1 know which I prefer.” 

“You would soonest be rid of the last, my dear general, 
and my advice is to take her.” 

“ Old as she is, sir, a king would have to plead hard to 
get her consent. We will make them some punch, that 
they may see we were mindful of them in their absence.” 

To work these worthies now w T ent in earnest, in order to 
anticipate the arrival of the party, and as the different com- 
pounds were in the course of mingling, the conversation 
did not flag. By this time both the salt-water and the 
fresh-water sailor were in that condition when men are apt 
to think aloud, and the commodore had lost all his awe of 
his companion. 

“ My dear sir,” said the former, “ I am a thousand times 
sorry you came from that river, for, to tell you my mind 
without any concealment, my only objection to you is that 
you are not of the Middle States. I admit the good quali- 
ties of the Yankees, in a general way, and yet they are the 
very worst neighbors that a man can have.” 

“ This is a new character of them, commodore, as they 
generally pass for the best in their own eyes. I should like 
to hear you explain your meaning.” 

“ I call him a bad neighbor who never remains long 
enough in a place to love anything but himself. Now, sir, 
I have a feeling for every pebble on the shore of this lake, 
a sympathy with every wave ” — here the commodore began 
to twirl his hand about, with the fingers standing apart, 
like so many spikes in a chevaux-de-frise — “ and each hour, 
as I row across it, I find I like it better ; and yet, sir, would 
you believe me, I often go away of a morning to pass the 
day on the water, and, on returning home at night, find 
half the houses filled with new faces.” 

“What becomes of the old ones?” demanded Captain 
Truck ; for this, it struck him, was getting the better of 
him with his own weapons. “ Do you mean that the peo- 
ple come and go like the tides ? ” 

“ Exactly so, sir ; just as it used to be with the herrings 
in the Otsego, before the Susquehanna was dammed, and 
is still, with the swallows.” 


270 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“Well, well, my good friend, take consolation. You’ll 
meet all the faces you ever saw here, one day, in heaven.” 

“ Never ! Not a man of them will stay there, if there 
be such a thing as moving. Depend on it, sir,” added the 
commodore, in the simplicity of his heart, “heaven is no 
place for a Yankee, if he can get further west, by hook or 
by crook. They are all too uneasy for any steady occupa- 
tion. You, who are a navigator, must know something 
concerning the stars. Is there such a thing as another 
world, that lies west of this ? ” 

“ That can hardly be, commodore, since the points of the 
compass only refer to objects on this earth. You know, I 
suppose, that a man starting from this spot, and travelling 
due west, would arrive in time at this very point, coming in 
from the east. So that what is west to us, in the heavens, 
on this side of the world, is east to those on the other.” 

“ This I confess I did not know, general. I have under- 
stood that what is good in one man’s eyes, will be bad in 
another’s ; but never before have I heard that what is west 
to one man lies east to another. I am afraid, general, that 
there is a little of the sogdollager bait in this ? ” 

“ Not enough, sir, to catch the merest fresh-water gud- 
geon that swims. No, no ; there is neither east nor west 
off the earth, nor any up and down ; and so we Yankees 
must try and content ourselves with heaven. Now, com- 
modore, hand me the bowl, and we will get it ready down 
to the shore, and offer the ladies our homage. And so you 
have become a laker in your religion, my dear commo- 
dore,” continued the general, between his teeth, while he 
smoked and squeezed a lemon at the same time, “ and do 
your worshipping on the water ?” 

“Altogether of late, and more especially since my 
dream ? ” * 

“ Dream ! My dear sir, I should think you altogether 
too innocent a man to dream ?” 

“ The best of us have our failings, general. I do some- 
times dream, I own, as well as the greatest sinner of them 
all.” 

“ And what did you dream — the sogdollager ?” 

“ I dreamt of death.” 

“ Of slipping the cable ! ” cried the general, looking up 
suddenly. “ Well, what was the drift ?” 


HOME AS FOUND. 


271 


“Why, sir, having no wings, I went down below, and 
soon found myself in the presence of the old gentleman 
himself.” 

“That was pleasant. Had he a tail? I have always 
been curious to know whether he really has a tail or not.” 

“ I saw none, sir ; but then we stood face to face, like 
gentlemen, and I cannot describe what I did not see.” 

“Was he glad to see you, commodore ? ” 

“ Why, sir, he was civilly spoken, but his occupation 
prevented many compliments.” 

“ Occupation ! ” 

“ Certainly, sir ; he was cutting out shoes, for his imps 
to travel about in, in order to stir up mischief.” 

“And did he set you to work ? This is a sort of state 
prison affair, after all ! ” 

“ No, sir, he was too much of a gentleman to set me at 
making shoes as soon as I arrived. He first inquired what 
part of the country I was from, and when I told him, he 
was curious to know" what most of the people were about 
in our neighborhood.” 

“ You told him, of course, commodore ? ” 

“Certainly, sir, I told him their chief occupation was 
quarrelling about religion — making saints of themselves, 
and sinners of their neighbors. ‘ Hollo ! ’ says the devil, 
calling to one of his imps, ‘boy, run and catch my horse. 
I must be off, and have a finger in that pie. What denom- 
inations have you in that quarter, commodore ? ’ So I 
told him, general, that we had Baptists, and Quakers, and 
Universalists, and Episcopalians, and Presbyterians, old 
lights, new lights, and blue lights ; and Methodists-—. 
‘Stop,’ said the devil, ‘that’s enough ; you imp, be nimble 
with that horse. Let me see, commodore, what part of the 
country did you say you came from ? ’ I told him the 
name more distinctly this time ” 

“ The very spot ? ” 

“Town and county.” 

“And what did the devil say to that ?” 

“ He called out to the imp again — ‘ Hollo, you boy, never 
mind that horse. These people will all be here before I 
can get there.’ ” 

Here the commodore and the general began to laugh, 
until the arches of the forest rang with their merriment, 


272 


HOME AS FOUND. 


Three times they stopped, and as often did they return to 
their glee, until, the punch being ready, each took a fresh 
draught, in order to ascertain if it were fit to be offered to 
the ladies. 


CHAPTER XX. 

“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” 

Romeo and Juliet. 

The usual effect of punch is to cause people to see dou- 
ble ; but, on this occasion, the mistake was the other way ; 
for two boats had touched the strand, instead of the one 
announced by the commodore, and they brought with them 
the whole party from the Wigwam, Steadfast and Arista- 
bulus included. A domestic or two had also been brought 
to prepare the customary repast. 

Captain Truck was as good as his word, as respects the 
punch, and the beverage was offered to each of the ladies 
in form, as soon as her feet had touched the green sward 
which covers that beautiful spot. Mrs. Hawker declined 
drinking, in a way to delight the gallant seaman ; for so 
completely had she got the better of all his habits and prej- 
udices, that everything she did seemed right and gracious 
in his eyes. 

The party soon separated into groups, or pairs, some 
being seated on the margin of the limpid water, enjoying 
the light cool airs by which it was fanned ; others lay off 
in the boats fishing, while the remainder plunged into the 
woods, that, in their native wildness, bounded the little 
spot of verdure, which, canopied by old oaks, formed the 
arena so lately in controversy. In this manner an hour or 
two soon slipped away, when a summons was given for all 
to assemble around the viands. 

The repast was laid on the grass, notwithstanding Aris- 
tabulus more than hinted that the public, his beloved pub- 
lic, usually saw fit to introduce rude tables for that pur- 
pose. The Messrs. Effingham, however, w*ere not to be 
taught by a mere bird of passage, how a rustic fete so pe- 
culiarly their own ought to be conducted, and the attend- 
ants were directed to spread the dishes on the turf, 


HOME AS FOUND . 


2 73 


Around this spot rustic seats were improvises, and the bus- 
iness of restauration proceeded. Of all there assembled, 
the Parisian feelings of Mademoiselle Viefville were the 
most excited ; for, to her, the scene was one of pure de- 
lights, with the noble panorama of forest-clad mountains, 
the mirror-like lake, the overshadowing oaks, and the tan- 
gled brakes of the adjoining woods. 

“ Mais, vraime?it ceci surpasse les Tuileries , meme dans leur 
propre genre ! ” she exclaimed, with energy. “ On passerait 
volontiers par les dangers du desert pour y parvenu'." 

Those who understood her smiled at this characteristic 
remark, and most felt disposed to join in the enthusiasm. 
Still, the manner in which their companions expressed the 
happiness they felt, appeared tame and unsatisfactory to 
Mr. Bragg and Mr. Dodge, these two persons being accus- 
tomed to see the young of the two sexes indulge in broader 
exhibitions of merry-making than those in which it com- 
ported with the tastes and habits of the present party to 
indulge. In vain Mrs. Hawker, in her quiet, dignified way, 
enjoyed the ready wit and masculine thoughts of Mrs. 
Bloomfield, appearing to renew her youth ; or Eve, with 
her sweet simplicity and highly cultivated mind and im- 
proved tastes, seemed, like a highly polished mirror, to 
throw back the flashes of thought and memory, that so con- 
stantly gleamed before both ; it was all lost on these thor- 
oughly matter-of-fact utilitarians. Mr. Effingham, all 
courtesy and mild refinement, was seldom happier, and 
John Effingham was never more pleasant ; for he had laid 
aside the severity of his character, to appear, what he ought 
always to have been, a man in whom intelligence and quick- 
ness of thought could be made to seem secondary to the 
gentler qualities. The young men were not behind their 
companions either, each in his particular way appearing to 
advantage, gay, regulated, and full of a humor that was 
rendered so much the more agreeable, by drawing its im- 
ages from a knowledge of the world that was tempered by 
observation and practice. 

Poor Grace, alone, was the only one of the whole party, 
always excepting Aristabulus and Steadfast, who for those 
fleeting but gay hours, was not thoroughly happy* For 
the first time in her life she felt her own deficiencies, that 
ready and available knowledge so exquisitely feminine in 
18 


274 


HOME AS FOUND. 


its nature and exhibition, which escaped Mrs. Bloomfield 
and Eve, as it might be from its own excess, which the 
former possessed almost intuitively, a gift of Heaven, 
and which the latter enjoyed, not only from the same source, 
but as a just consequence of her long and steady self-denial, 
application, and a proper appreciation of her duty to her- 
self, was denied one who, in ill-judged compliance with the 
customs of a society that has no other apparent aim than 
the love of display, had precluded herself from enjoyments 
that none but the intellectual can feel. Still Grace was 
beautiful and attractive ; and though she wondered where 
her cousin, in general so simple and unpretending, had ac- 
quired all those stores of thought, that in the abandon and 
freedom of such a fete escaped her in rich profusion, em- 
bellished with ready allusions and a brilliant though chas- 
tened wit, her generous and affectionate heart could permit 
her to wonder without envying. She perceived, for the 
first time on this occasion, that if Eve were indeed a Hajji, 
it was not a Hajji of a common school ; and while her mod- 
esty and self-abasement led her bitterly to regret the hours 
irretrievably wasted in the frivolous levities so common to 
those of her sex with whom she had been most accustomed 
to mingle, her sincere regret did not lessen her admiration 
for one she began tenderly to love. 

As for Messrs. Dodge and Bragg, they both determined 
in their own minds that this was much the most stupid 
entertainment they had ever seen on that spot, for it was 
entirely destitute of loud laughing, noisy merriment, coarse 
witticisms, and practical jokes. To them it appeared the 
height of arrogance for any particular set of persons to 
presume to come to a spot rendered sacred by the public 
suffrage in its favor, in order to indulge in these outland- 
ish dog-in-the-mangerisms. 

Toward the close of this gay repast, and when the party 
were about to yield their places to the attendants, who 
were ready to reship the utensils, John Effingham ob- 
served — 

“I trust, Mrs. Hawker, you have been duly warned of 
the catastrophe-character of this point, on which woman 
is said never to have been wooed in vain. Here are Cap- 
tain Truck and myself, ready at any moment to use these 
carving-knives, faut des Bowies , in order to show our des- 


HOME AS FOUND . 


275 


perate devotion ; and I deem it no more than prudent in 
you, not to smile again this day, lest the cross-eyed read- 
ings of jealousy should impute a wrong motive.” 

“ Had the injunction been against laughing, sir, I might 
have resisted, but smiles are far too feeble to express one’s 
approbation on such a day as this ; you may therefore 
trust to my discretion. Is it then true, however, that 
Hymen haunts these shades ? ” 

“A bachelors history of the progress of love maybe, 
like the education of his children, distrusted, but so sayeth 
tradition ; and I never put my foot in the place without 
making fresh vows of constancy to myself. After this an- 
nouncement of the danger, dare you accept an arm, for I 
perceive signs that life cannot be entirely wasted in these 
pleasures, great as they may prove.” 

The whole party arose, and separating naturally, they 
strolled in groups or pairs again, along the pebbly strand, 
or beneath the trees, while the attendants made, the prep- 
arations to depart. Accident, as much as design, left Sir 
George and Grace alone, for neither perceived the circum- 
stance until they had both passed a little rise in the for- 
mation of the ground, and were beyond the view of their 
companions. The baronet was the first to perceive how 
much he had been favored by fortune, and his feelings 
were touched by the air of gentle melancholy that shaded 
the usually bright and brilliant countenance of the beauti- 
ful girl. 

“ I should have thrice enjoyed this pleasant day,” he 
said, with an interest in his manner that caused the heart 
of Grace to beat quicker, “ had I not seen that to you it 
has been less productive of satisfaction than to most of 
those around you. I fear you may not be as well as 
usual?” 

“In health, never better, though not in spirits, perhaps.” 

“ I could wish I had a right to inquire why you, who 
have so few causes in general to be out of spirits, should 
have chosen a moment so little in accordance with the 
common feeling.” 

“ I have chosen no moment ; the moment has chosen 
me, I fear. Not until this day, Sir George Templemore, 
have I ever been truly sensible of my great inferiority to 
my cousin Eve.” 


276 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“ An inferiority that no one but yourself would observe 
or mention.” 

“No, 1 am neither vain enough nor ignorant enough to 
be the dupe of this flattery,” returned Grace, shaking her 
hands and head, while she forced a smile ; for even the 
delusions those we love pour into our ears are not with- 
out their charms. “ When I first met my cousin, after her 
return, my own imperfections rendered me blind to her 
superiority ; but she herself has gradually taught me to 
respect her mind, her womanly character, her tact, her 
delicacy, principles, breeding, everything that can make a 
woman estimable, or worthy to be loved ! Oh ! how have 
I wasted in childish amusements and frivolous vanities 
the precious moments of that girlhood which can never 
be recalled, and left myself scarcely worthy to be an asso- 
ciate of Eve Effingham !” 

The first feelings of Grace had so far gotten the con- 
trol that she scarce knew what she said, or to whom she 
was speaking ; she even wrung her hands in the momen- 
tary bitterness of her regrets, and in a way to arouse all 
the sympathy of a lover. 

“No one but yourself would say this, Miss Van Cort- 
landt, and least of all your admirable cousin.” 

“ She is, indeed, my admirable cousin ! But what are 
we in comparison with such a woman ! Simple and un- 
affected as a child, with the intelligence of a scholar ; with 
all the graces of a woman she has the learning and mind 
of a man. Mistress of so many languages ” 

“But you, too, speak several, my dear Miss Van Cort- 
landt.” 

“Yes,” said Grace, bitterly, “I speak them, as the par- 
rot repeats words that he does not understand. But Eve 
Effingham has used these languages as means, and she 
does not tell you merely what such a phrase or idiom sig- 
nifies, but what the greatest writers have thought and 
written.” 

“No one has a more profound respect for your cousin 
than myself, Miss Van Cortlandt, but justice to you re- 
quires that I should say her great superiority over your- 
self has escaped me.” 

“This may be true, Sir George Templemore, and for a 
long time it escaped me too. I have only learned to prize 


HOME AS FOUND. 


277 


her as she ought to be prized by an intimate acquaintance ; 
hour by hour, as it might be. But even you must have 
observed how quick and intuitively my cousin and Mrs. 
Bloomfield have understood each other to-day ; how much 
extensive reading and what polished tastes they have both 
shown, and all so truly feminine ! Mrs. Bloomfield is a 
remarkable woman, but she loves these exhibitions, for 
she knows she excels in them. Not so with Eve Effing- 
ham, who, while she so thoroughly enjoys everything in- 
tellectual, is content always to seem so simple. Now it 
happens that the conversation turned once to-day on a 
subject that my cousin, no later than yesterday, fully ex- 
plained to me, at my own earnest request ; and I observed 
that while she joined so naturally with Mrs. Bloomfield in 
adding to our pleasure, she kept back half what she knew, 
lest she might seem to surpass her friend. No — no — no 
— there is not such another woman as Eve Effingham in 
this world ! ” 

“ So keen a perception of excellence in others denotes 
an equal excellence in yourself.” 

“ I know my own great inferiority now, and no kindness 
of yours, Sir George Templemore, can ever persuade me 
into a better opinion of myself. Eve has travelled, seen 
much in Europe that does not exist here, and instead of 
passing her youth in girlish trifling, has treated the min- 
utes as if they were all precious, as she well knew them to 
be.” 

“ If Europe, then, does indeed possess these advantages, 
why not yourself visit it, dearest Miss Van Cortlandt?” 

“I — I a Hajji !” cried Grace, with childish pleasure, 
though her color heightened, and for a moment Eve and 
her superiority were forgotten. 

Certainly Sir George Templemore did not come out on 
the lake that day with an expectation of offering his bar- 
onetcy, his fair estate with his hand, to this artless, half- 
educated, provincial, but beautiful girl. For a long time 
he had been debating with himself the propriety of 
such a step, and it is probable that at some later period 
he would have sought an occasion, had not one now so 
opportunely offered, notwithstanding all his doubts and 
reasonings with himself. If the “ woman who hesitates is 
lost,” it is equally true that the man who pretends to set 


278 


HOME AS FOUND. 


up his reason alone against beauty, is certain to find that 
sense is less powerful than the senses. Had Grace Van 
Cortlandt been more sophisticated, less natural, her beauty 
might have failed to make this conquest ; but the baronet 
found a charm in her naivete that was singularly winning 
to the feelings of a man of the world. Eve had first at- 
tracted him by the same quality ; the early education of 
American females being less constrained and artificial than 
that of the English ; but in Eve he found a mental train- 
ing, and acquisitions that left the quality less conspicuous, 
perhaps, than in her scarcely less beautiful cousin ; though, 
had Eve met his admiration with anything like sympathy, 
her power over him would not have been easily weakened. 
As it was, Grace had been gradually winding herself 
around his affections, and he now poured out his love in 
a language that her unpractised and already favorably dis- 
posed feelings had no means of withstanding. A very 
few minutes were allowed to them before the summons to 
the boat ; but when this summons came, Grace rejoined 
the party, elevated in her own good opinion, as happy as 
a cloudless future could make her, and without another 
thought of the immeasurable superiority of her cousin. 

By a singular coincidence, while the baronet and Grace 
were thus engaged on one part of the shore, Eve was the 
subject of a similar proffer of connecting herself for life 
on another. She had left the circle, attended by Paul, 
her father, and Aristabulus ; but no sooner had they 
reached the margin of the water than the two former were 
called away by Captain Truck, to settle some controverted" 
point between the latter and the commodore. By this 
unlooked-for desertion, Eve found herself alone with Mr. 
Bragg 

“ That was a funny and comprehensive remark Mr. John 
made about the * Point,’ Miss Eve,” Aristabulus com- 
menced, as soon as he found himself in possession of the 
ground. “ I should like to know if it be really true that 
no woman was ever unsuccessfully wooed beneath these 
oaks ? If such be the case, we gentlemen ought to be 
cautious how we come here.” 

Here Aristabulus simpered, and looked, if possible, more 
amiable than ever ; though the quiet composure and 
womanly dignity of Eve, who respected herself too much, 


HOME AS FOUND. 


279 


and too well knew what was due to her sex, ever to enter 
into, or so far as it depended on her will, to permit any of 
that commonplace and vulgar trifling about love and 
matrimony, which formed a never-failing theme between 
the youthful of the two sexes in Mr. Bragg’s particular 
circle, sensibly curbed his ambitious hopes. Still he 
thought he had made too good an opening not to pursue 
the subject. 

“Mr. John Effingham sometimes indulges in pleasan- 
tries,” Eve answered, “that would lead one astray who 
might attempt to follow.” 

“Love is a jack-o’-lantern,” rejoined Aristabulus, senti- 
mentally. “That I admit; and it is no wonder so many 
get swamped in following his lights. Have you ever felt 
the tender passion, Miss Eve ? ” 

Now Aristabulus had heard this question put at the 
soiree of Mrs. Houston more than once, and he believed 
himself to be in the most polite road for a regular decla- 
ration. An ordinary woman, who felt herself offended by 
this question, would most probably have stepped back, 
and raising her form to its utmost elevation, answered by 
an emphatic “ Sir ! ” Not so with Eve. She felt the dis- 
tance between Mr. Bragg and herself to be so great, that 
by no probable means could he even offend her by any as- 
sumption of equality. This distance was the result of 
opinions, habits, and education, rather than of condition, 
however ; for though Eve Effingham could become the 
wife of a gentleman only, she was entirely superior to 
those prejudices of the world that depend on purely facti- 
tious causes. Instead of discovering surprise, indignation, 
or dramatic dignity, therefore, at this extraordinary ques- 
tion, she barely permitted a smile to curl her handsome 
mouth, and this so slightly as to escape her companion’s 
eye. 

“ I believe we are to be favored with as smooth water in 
returning to the village as we had in the morning, while 
coming to this place,” she simply said. “You row, some- 
times, I think, Mr. Bragg ?” 

“Ah ! Miss Eve, such another opportunity may never 
occur again, for you foreign ladies are so difficult of ac- 
cess ! Let me then seize this happy moment here, beneath 
the hymeneal oaks, to offer you this faithful hand and this 


28 o 


HOME AS FOUND. 


willing heart Of fortune you will have enough for both, 
and I say nothing about the miserable dross. Reflect, 
Miss Eve, how happy we might be, protecting and sooth- 
ing the old age of your father, and in going down the hill 
of life in company ; or, as the song says, * and hand in hand 
we’ll go, and sleep thegither at the foot, John Anderson, 
my Joe.’ ” 

“You draw very agreeable pictures, Mr. Bragg, and with 
the touches of a master ! ” 

“ However agreeable you find them, Miss Eve, they fall 
infinitely short of the truth. The tie of wedlock, besides 
being the most sacred, is also the dearest ; and happy, 
indeed, are they who enter into the solemn engagement 
with such cheerful prospects as ourselves. Our ages are 
perfectly suitable, our dispositions entirely consonant, our 
habits so similar as to obviate all unpleasant changes, and 
our fortunes precisely what they ought to be to render a 
marriage happy, with confidence on one side, and grati- 
tude on the other. As to the day, Miss Eve* I could wish 
to leave you altogether the mistress of that, and shall not 
be u'rgent.” 

Eve had often heard John Effingham comment on the 
cool impudence of a particular portion of the American 
population, with great amusement to herself ; but never 
did she expect to be the subject of an attack like this in her 
own person. By way of rendering the scene perfect, Aris- 
tabulus had taken out his penknife, cut a twig from a bush, 
and he now rendered himself doubly interesting by com- 
mencing the favorite occupation of whittling. A cooler 
picture of passion Could not well have been drawn. 

“You are bashfully silent, Miss Eve! I make all due 
allowance for natural timidity, and shall say no more at 
present — though, as silence universally ‘gives consent — — ’ ” 

“If you please, sir,” interrupted Eve, with a slight motion 
of her parasol, that implied a check. “ I presume our hab- 
its and opinions, notwithstanding you seem to think them 
so consonant with each other, are sufficiently different to 
cause you not to see the impropriety of one, who is situated 
like yourself, abusing the confidence of a parent, by mak- 
ing such a proposal to a daughter without her father’s 
knowledge ; and, on that point, I shall say nothing. But 
as you have done me the honor of making me a very un- 


HOME AS FOUND. 


281 


equivocal offer of your hand, I wish that the answer may 
be as distinct as the proposal. I decline the advantage and 
happiness of becoming your wife, sir ” 

“Time flies, Miss Eve ! ” 

“ Time does fly, Mr. Bragg, and, if you remain much 
longer in the employment pf Mr. Effingham, you may lose 
an opportunity of advancing your fortunes at the West, 
whither 1 understand it has long been your intention to 
emigrate 

“ I will readily relinquish all my hopes at the West for 
your sake.” 

“No, sir, I cannot be a party to such a sacrifice. I will 
not say forget me, but forget your hopes here, and renew 
those you have so unreflectingly abandoned beyond the 
Mississippi. I shall not represent this conversation to Mr. 
Effingham in a manner to create any unnecessary preju- 
dices against you ; and while I thank you— as every woman 
should — for an offer that must infer some portion, at least, 
of your good opinion, you will permit me again to wish you 
all lawful success in your western enterprises.” 

Eve gave Mr. Bragg no further opportunity to renew 
his suit ; for she courtesied and left him, as she ceased 
speaking. Mr. Dodge, who had been a distant observer 
of the interview, now hastened to join his friend, curious 
to know the result ; for it had been privately arranged 
between these modest youths, that each should try his 
fortune in turn with the heiress, did she not accept the 
first proposal. To the chagrin of Steadfast, and probably 
to the reader’s surprise, Aristabulus informed his friend 
that Eve’s manner and language had been full of encour- 
agement. 

“She thanked me for the offer, Mr. Dodge,” he said, 
“ and her wishes for my future prosperity at the West were 
warm and repeated. Eve Effingham is, indeed, a charming 
creature ! ” 

“ At the West ! Perhaps she meant differently from 
what you imagine. I know her well. The girl is full of 
art.” 

“ Art, sir ! she spoke as plainly as woman could speak, 
and I repeat that I feel considerably encouraged. It is 
something to have had so plain a conversation with Eve 
Effingham.” 


282 


HOME AS FOUND. 


Mr. Dodge swallowed his discontent, and the whole 
party soon embarked, to return to the village, the com- 
modore and general taking a boat by themselves, in order 
to bring their discussions on human affairs in general, to 
a suitable close. 

That night Sir George Templemore asked an interview 
with Mr. Effingham, when the latter was alone in his 
library. 

“I sincerely hope this request is not the forerunner of 
a departure,” said the host kindly, as the young man en- 
tered, “in which case I shall regard you as one unmindful 
of the hopes he has raised. You stand pledged by impli- 
cation, if not in words, to pass another month with us.” 

“ So far from entertaining an intention so faithless, my 
dear sir, I am fearful that you may think I trespass too 
far on your hospitality.” 

He then communicated his wish to be allowed to make 
Grace Van Cortlandt his wife. Mr. Effingham heard him 
with a smile, that showed he was not altogether unpre- 
pared for such a demand, and his eye glistened as he 
squeezed the other’s hand. 

“Take her with all my heart, Sir George,” he said, “but 
remember, you are transferring a tender plant into a 
strange soil. There are not many of your countrymen to 
whom I would confide such a trust ; for I know the risk 
they run who make ill-assorted unions ” 

“Ill-assorted unions, Mr. Effingham!” 

“Yours will not be one, in the ordinary acceptation of 
the term, I know ; for in years, birth, and fortune you 
and my dear niece are as much on an equality as can be 
desired ; but it is too often an ill-assorted union for an 
American woman to become an English wife. So much 
depends on the man, that with one in whom I have less 
confidence than I have in you, I might justly hesitate. I 
shall take a guardian’s privilege, though Grace be her 
own mistress, and give you one solemn piece of advice. 
Always respect the country of the woman you have 
thought worthy to bear your name.” 

“ I hope always to respect everything that is hers ; but 
why this particular caution? Miss Van Cortlandt is al- 
most English in her heart.” 

“An affectionate wife will take her bias in such matters 


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generally from her husband. Your country will be her 
country — your God her God. Still, Sir George Temple- 
more, a woman of spirit and sentiment can never wholly 
forget the land of her birth. You love us not in England, 
and one who settles there will often have occasion to hear 
gibes and sneers on the land from which she came ” 

“ Good God, Mr. Effingham, you do not think I shall 
take my wife into society where ” 

“ Bear with a proser’s doubts, Templemore. You will 
do all that is well-intentioned and proper, I dare say, in the 
usual acceptation of the words ; but I wish you to do more : 
that which is wise. Grace has now a sincere reverence and 
respect for England, feelings that in many particulars are 
sustained by the facts, and will be permanent ; but, in some 
things, observation, as it usually happens with the young 
and sanguine, will expose the mistakes into which she has 
been led by enthusiasm and the imagination. As she knows 
other countries better, she will come to regard her own with 
more favorable and discriminating eyes, losing her sensitive- 
ness on account of peculiarities she now esteems, and tak- 
ing new views of things. Perhaps you will think me self- 
ish, but I shall add, also, that if you wish to cure your wife 
of any homesickness, the surest mode will be to bring her 
back to her native land.” 

“Nay, my dear sir,” said Sir George, laughing, “this is 
very much like acknowledging its blemishes.” 

“ I am aware it has that appearance, and yet the fact is 
otherwise. The cure is as certain with the Englishman as 
with the American ; and with the German as with either. 
It depends on a general law, which causes us all to over- 
estimate bygone pleasures and distant scenes, and to under- 
value those of the present moment. You know I have al- 
ways maintained there is no real philosopher short of fifty, 
nor any taste worth possessing that is a dozen years old.” 

Here Mr. Effingham rang the bell, and desired Pierre to 
request Miss Van Cortlandt to join him in the library, 
Grace entered blushing and shy, but with a countenance 
beaming with inward peace. Her uncle regarded her a 
moment intently, and a tear glistened in his eye again, as 
he tenderly kissed her burning cheek. 

“ God bless you, love,” he said — “ ’tis a fearful change 
for your sex, and yet you all enter into it radiant with hope, 


2S4 


HOME AS FOUND. 


and noble in your confidence. Take her, Templemore,” 
giving her hand to the baronet, “ and deal kindly by her. 
You will not desert us entirely. I trust I shall see you both 
once more in the Wigwam before I die.” 

“ Uncle — uncle — ” burst from Grace, as, drowned in 
tears, she threw herself into Mr. Effingham’s arms ; “ I am 
an ungrateful girl thus to abandon all my natural friends. 

I have acted wrong ” 

“ Wrong, dearest Miss Van Cortlandt ! ” 

“Selfishly, then, Sir George Templemore,” the simple- 
hearted girl ingenuously added, scarcely knowing how 
much her words implied — “ Perhaps this matter might be 
reconsidered.” 

“I am afraid little would be gained by that, my love,” 
returned the smiling uncle, wiping his eyes at the same in- 
stant. “ The second thoughts of ladies usually confirm the 
first in such matters. God bless you, Grace ; Templemore, 
may heaven have you, too, in its holy keeping. Remember 
what I have said, and to-morrow we will converse further 
on the subject. Does Eve know of this, my niece ? ” 

The color went and came rapidly in Grace’s cheek, and 
she looked to the floor, abashed. 

“We ought then to send for her,” resumed Mr. Effing- 
ham, again reaching toward the bell. 

“ Uncle — ” and Grace hurriedly interposed, in time to 
save the string from being pulled. “ Could I keep such an 
important secret from my dearest cousin ! ” 

“ I find that 1 am the last in the secret, as is generally the 
case with old fellows, and I believe I am even now de trop .” 

Mr. Effingham kissed Grace again affectionately, and 
although she strenuously endeavored to detain him, he left 
the room. 

“ We must follow,” said Grace, hastily wiping her eyes, 
and rubbing the traces of tears from her cheeks — “ Excuse 

me, Sir George Templemore ; will you open ” 

He did, though it was not the door, but his arms. Grace 
seemed like one that was rendered giddy by standing on a 
precipice, but when she fell the young baronet was at hand 
to receive her. Instead of quitting the library that instant, 
the bell had announced the appearance of the supper-tray 
before she remembered that she had so earnestly intended 
to do so. 


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285 


CHAPTER XXI. 

“This day no man thinks 

He has business at his house.” — King Henry VIII. 

The warm weather, which was always a little behind that 
of the lower counties, had now set in among the mountains, 
and the season had advanced into the first week in July. 
“ Independence Day,” as the fourth of that month is termed 
by the Americans, arrived ; and the wits of Templeton were 
taxed as usual, in order that the festival might be cele- 
brated with the customary intellectural and moral treat. 
The morning commenced with a parade of the two or three 
uniformed companies of the vicinity, much gingerbread and 
spruce beer were consumed in the streets, no light pota- 
tions of whiskey were swallowed in the groceries, and a 
great variety of drinks, some of which bore very ambitious 
names, shared the same fate in the taverns. 

Mademoiselle Viefville had been told that this was the 
great American fete ; the festival of the nation ; and she 
appeared that morning in gay ribands, and with her bright 
animated face covered with smiles for the occasion. To 
her surprise, however, no one seemed to respond to her 
feelings ; and as the party rose from the breakfast-table, 
she took an opportunity to ask an explanation of Eve, in a 
little “aside.” 

“ Est-ce . que je me suis tromp'ee , via chere ? ” demanded the 
lively Frenchwoman. “Is not this — la celebration votre in- 
dip endance ? ” 

“ You are not mistaken, my dear Mademoiselle Viefville, 
and great preparations are made to do it honor. I under- 
stand there is to be a military parade, an oration, a dinner, 
and fireworks.” 

“ Monsieur votre pere ” 

“ Monsieur mon pere is not much given to rejoicings, and 
he takes this annual joy much as a valetudinarian takes 
his morning draught.” 

“ Et Monsieur Jean Effingham ? ” 


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“ Is always a philosopher ; you are to expect no antics 
from him.” 

“ Mais ces jeunes gens , Monsieur Bragg , Monsieur Dodge , 
^ Monsieur Powis meme ” 

“iS> rejouissent en A meric ains. I presume you are aware 
that Mr. Powis has declared himself to be an American ?” 

Mademoiselle Viefville looked toward the streets, along 
which divers tall, sombre-looking countrymen, with faces 
more lugubrious than those of the mutes of a funeral, 
were sauntering with a desperate air of enjoyment ; and 
she shrugged her shoulders, as she muttered to herself, 
“ que ces A nitric ains sont dr dies ! ” 

At a later hour, however, Eve surprised her father, and 
indeed most of the Americans of the party, by proposing 
that the ladies should walk out into the street, and witness 
the fete. 

“ My child, this is a strange proposition to come from a 
young lady of twenty,” said her father. 

“ Why strange, dear sir ? — We always mingled in the vil- 
lage fetes in Europe.” 

“ Certainement, ” cried the delighted Mademoiselle Vief- 
ville ; “ dest de rigueur meme A 

“And it is de rigueur here, mademoiselle, for young 
ladies to keep out of them,” put in John Effingham. “ I 
should be very sorry to see either of you three ladies in 
the streets of Templeton to-day.” 

“Why so, cousin Jack ? Have we anything to fear from 
the rudeness of our countrymen ? I have always under- 
stood, on the contrary, that in no other part of the world 
is woman so uniformly treated with respect and kindness, 
as in this very republic of ours ; and yet, by all these omi- 
nous faces, I perceive that it will not do for her to trust 
herself in the streets of a village on a fesia .” 

“You are not altogether wrong in what you now say, 
Miss Effingham, nor are you wholly right. Woman, as a 
whole, is well treated in America ; and yet it will not do 
for a lady to mingle in scenes like these, as ladies may and 
do mingle with them in Europe.” 

“ I have heard this difference accounted for,” said Paul 
Powis, “ by the fact that women have no legal rank in this 
country. In those nations where the station of a lady is 
protected by legal ordinances, it is said she may descend 


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287 


with impunity ; but in this, where all are equal before the 
law, so many misunderstand the real merits of their posi- 
tion, that she is obliged to keep aloof from any collisions 
with those who might be disposed to mistake their own 
claims.” 

“ But I wish for no collisions, no associations, Mr. Powis, 
but simply to pass through the streets, with my cousin and 
Mademoiselle Viefville, to enjoy the sight of the rustic 
sports, as one would do in France, or Italy, or even in 
republican Switzerland, if you insist on a republican ex- 
ample.” 

“ Rustic sports ! ” repeated Aristabulus, with a fright- 
ened look ; “ the people will not bear to hear their sports 
called rustic, Miss Effingham.” 

“ Surely, sir ” — Eve never spoke to Mr. Bragg, now, 
without using a repelling politeness — “ surely, sir, the peo- 
ple of these mountains will hardly pretend that their sports 
are those of a capital.” 

“ I merely mean, ma’am, that the term would be mon- 
strously unpopular ; not do I see why the sports in a city ” 
— Aristabulus was much too peculiar in his notions to call 
any place that had a mayor and aldermen a town, — 
“ should not be just as rustic as those of a village. The 
contrary supposition violates the principle of equality.” 

“And do you decide against us, dear sir?” Eve added, 
looking at Mr. Effingham. 

“Without stopping to examine causes, my child, I shall 
say that I think you had better all remain at home.” 

“ Voild, Mademoiselle Viefville , une fete Americaine /” 

A shrug of the shoulders was the significant reply. 

“ Nay, my daughter, you are not entirely excluded from 
the festivities; all gallantry has not quite deserted the land.” 

“A young lady shall walk alone with a young gentle- 
man — shall ride alone with him — shall drive out alone 
with him — shall not move without him, dans le monde , mais, 
she shall not walk in the crowd, to look at une fete avec son 
p'ere !" exclaimed Mademoiselle Viefville, in her imperfect 
English. “ Je desesfere, vraiment , to understand some ha- 
bitudes Americaines ! ” 

“ Well, mademoiselle, that you may not think us alto- 
gether barbarians, you shall, at least, have the benefit of 
the oration.” 


288 


HOME AS FOUATD. 


“ You may well call it the oration, Ned ; for I believe 
one, or certainly one skeleton, has served some thousand 
orators annually, any time these sixty years.” 

“ Of this skeleton, then, the ladies shall have the benefit. 
The procession is about to form, I hear ; and by getting 
ready immediately, we shall be just in time to obtain good 
seats.” 

Mademoiselle Viefville was delighted ; for, after trying 
the theatres, the churches, sundry balls, the opera, and all 
the admirable gayeties of New York, she had reluctantly 
come to the conclusion that America was a very good 
country pour s'ennuyer , and for very little else ; but here 
was the promise of a novelty. The ladies completed their 
preparations, and, accordingly, attended by all the gentle- 
men, made their appearance in the assembly at the ap- 
pointed hour. 

The orator, who, as usual, was a lawyer, was already in 
possession of the pulpit, for one of the village churches 
had been selected as the scene of the ceremonies. He 
was a young man who had recently been called to the bar, 
it being as much in rule for the legal tyro to take off the 
wire-edge of his wit in a Fourth of July oration, as it was 
formerly for a mousquetaire to prove his spirit in a duel. 
The academy, which formerly was a servant of all work to 
the public, being equally used for education, balls, preach- 
ing, town-meetings, and caucuses, had shared the fate of 
most American edifices in wood, having lived its hour and 
been burned ; and the collection of people, whom we have 
formerly had occasion to describe, appeared to have also 
vanished from the earth, for nothing could be less alike in 
exterior, at least, than those who had assembled under the 
ministry of Mr. Grant, and their successors, who were 
now collected to listen to the wisdom of Mr. Writ. Such 
a thing as a coat of two generations was no longer to be 
seen ; the latest fashion, or what was thought to be the 
latest fashion, being as rigidly respected by the young 
farmer or the young mechanic, as by the more admitted 
bucks, the law student and the village shop-boy. All the 
red cloaks had long since been laid aside to give place to 
imitation merino shawls, or, in cases of unusual modera- 
tion and sobriety, to mantles of silk. As Eve glanced her 
eye around her, she perceived Tuscan hats, bonnets of gay 


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289 


colors and flowers, and dresses of French chintzes, where 
fifty years ago would have been seen even men’s woollen 
hats and homely English calicoes.. It is true that the 
change among the men was not quite as striking, for their 
attire admits of less variety ; but the black stock had su- 
perseded the check handkerchief and the bandanna ; gloves 
had taken the place of mittens ; and the coarse and clown- 
ish shoe of “ cow-hide ” was supplanted by the calf-skin 
boot. 

“Where are your peasants, your rustics, your milk and 
dairy maids — the people, in short ” — whispered Sir George 
Templemore to Mrs. Bloomfield, as they took their seats ; 
“ or is this occasion thought to be too intellectual for them, 
and the present assembly composed only of the elite ? ” 

“ These are the people, and a pretty fair sample, too, of 
their appearance and deportment. Most of these men are 
what you in England would call operatives, and the women 
are their wives, daughters, and sisters.” 

The baronet said nothing at the moment, but he sat 
looking around him with a curious eye for some time, when 
he again addressed his companion : 

“ I see the truth of what you say, as regards the men, 
for .a critical eye can . discover the proofs of their occupa- 
tions ; but surely you must be mistaken as respects your 
own sex ; there is too much delicacy of form and feature 
for the class you mean.” 

“ Nevertheless I have said naught but truth.” 

“ But look at the hands and feet, dear Mrs. Bloomfield. 
Those are French gloves, too, or I am mistaken.” 

“ I will not positively affirm that the French gloves actu- 
ally belong to the dairy-maids, though, I have known even 
this prodigy ; but, rely on it, you see here the proper fe- 
male counterparts of the men, and singularly delicate and 
pretty females are they, for persons of their class. This is 
what you call democratic coarseness and vulgarity, Miss 
Effingham tells me, in England.” 

Sir George smiled, but, as what it is the fashion of the 
country to call “ the exercises” just then began, he made 
no other answer. 

The exercises commenced witli instrumental music, cer- 
tainly the weakest side of Americas civilization. That of 
the occasion of which we write, had three essential faults, 

19 


290 


HOME AS FOUND. 


all of which are sufficiently general to be termed charac- 
teristic, in a national point of view. In the first place, the 
instruments themselves were bad ; in the next place, they 
were assorted without any regard to harmony ; and in the 
last place, their owners did not know how to use them. As 
in certain American cities — the word is well applied here — 
she is esteemed the greatest belle who can contrive to utter 
her nursery sentiments in the loudest voice, so in Temple- 
ton was he considered the ablest musician who could give 
the greatest eclat to a false note. In a word, clamor was 
the one thing needful, and as regards time, that great reg- 
ulator of all harmonies, Paul Powis whispered to the cap- 
tain that the air they had just been listening to, resembled 
what the sailors call a “round-robin,” or a particular mode 
of singing complaints practised by seamen, in which the 
nicest observer cannot tell which is the beginning or which 
the end. 

It required all the Parisian breeding of Mademoiselle 
Viefville to preserve her gravity during this overture, 
though she kept her bright, animated, French-looking eyes 
roaming over the assembly, with an air of delight that, as 
Mr. Bragg would say, made her very popular. No one 
else in the party from the Wigwam, Captain Truck ex- 
cepted, dared look up, but each kept his or her eyes riveted 
on the floor, as if in silent enjoyment of the harmonies. 
As for the honest old seaman, there was as much melody 
(in the howling of a gale to his unsophisticated ears as in 
anything else, and he saw no difference between this feat 
of the Templeton band and the sighing of old Boreas ; and, 
to say the truth, our nautical critic was not much out of 
the way. 

Of the oration it is scarcely necessary to say much, for 
if human nature is the same in all ages, and under all cir- 
cumstances, so is a Fourth of July oration. There were 
the usual allusions to Greece and Rome, between the re- 
publics of which and that of this country there exists some 
such affinity as is to be found between a horse-chestnut 
and a chestnut-horse, or that of mere words ; and a long 
catalogue of national glories that might . very well have 
sufficed for all the republics, both of antiquity and of our 
own time. But when* the orator came to speak of the 
American character, and particularly of the intelligence of 


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291 


the nation, he was most felicitous, and made the largest 
investments in popularity. According to his account of 
the matter, no other people possessed a tithe of the knowl- 
edge, or a hundredth part of the honesty and virtue of the 
very community he was addressing; and after laboring for 
ten minutes to convince his hearers that they already knew 
everything, he wasted several more in trying to persuade 
them to undertake further acquisitions of the same nature. 

“ How much better all this might be made,” said Paul 
Powis, as the party returned toward the Wigwam when 
the “ exercises ” were ended, “ by substituting a little plain 
instruction on the real nature and obligations of the insti- 
tutions, for so much unmeaning rhapsody. Nothing has 
struck me with more surprise and pain than to find how 
far, or it might be b’etter to say how high, ignorance reaches 
on such subjects, and how few men, in a country where all 
depends on the institutions, have clear notions concerning 
their own condition.” 

“ Certainly this is not the opinion we usually entertain 
of ourselves,” observed John Effingham. “And yet it 
ought to be. I am far from underrating the ordinarv in- 
formation of the country, which, as an average information, 
is superior to that of almost- every other people ; nor am I 
one of those who, according to the popular European no- 
tion, fancy the Americans less gifted than common in intel- 
lect ; there can be but one truth in anything, however, 
and it falls to the lot of very few, anywhere, to master it. 
The Americans, moreover, are a people of facts and 
practices, paying but little attention to principles, and giv- 
ing themselves the very minimum of time for investigations 
that lie beyond the reach of the common mind ; and it fol- 
lows that they know little of that which does not present 
itself in their every-day transactions. As regards the prac- 
tice of the institutions, it is regulated here, as elsewhere, 
by party, and party is never an honest or a disinterested 
expounder.” 

“Are you then more than in the common dilemma,”, 
asked Sir George, “or worse off than your neighbors?” 

“We are worse off than our neighbors, for the simple 
reason that it is the intention of the American system, 
which has been deliberately framed, and which is, moreover, 
the result of a bargain, to carry out its theory in practice ; 


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whereas, in countries where the institutions are the results 
of time and accidents, improvement is only obtained by 
innovations. Party invariably assails and weakens power. 
When power is in the possession of a few, the many gain 
by party ; but when power is the legal right of the many, 
the few gain by party. Now as party has no ally as strong 
as ignorance and prejudice, a right understanding of the 
principles of a government is of far more importance in a 
popular government -than in any other. In place of the 
eternal eulogies on facts, that one hears on all public oc- 
casions in this country, I would substitute some plain and 
clear expositions of principles ; or, indeed, I might say, of 
facts as they are connected with principles.” 

“ Mats, la musique , monsieur ,” interrupted Mademoiselle 
Viefville, in a way so droll as to raise a general smile, 
“ qu' en pensez-vous ? ” 

“ That it is music, my dear mademoiselle, in neither fact 
nor principle.’ 

“ It only proves that a people can be free, mademoiselle,” 
observed Mrs. Bloomfield, “ and enjoy Fourth of July ora- 
tions, without having very correct notions of harmony or 
time. But do our rejoicings end here, Miss Effingham ? ” 

“ Not at all — there is still something in reserve for the 
day, and all who honor it. I am told the evening, which 
promises to be sufficiently sombre, is to terminate with a 
fete that is peculiar to Templetdn, and which is called 
‘The Fun of Fire.’” 

“ It is an ominous name, and ought to be a brilliant 
ceremony.” 

As this was uttered, the whole party entered the Wig- 
wam. 

“ The Fun of Fire ” took place, as a matter of course, at 
a late hour. When night had set in, everybody appeared 
in the main street of the village, a part of which, from its 
width and form, was particularly adapted to the sports of 
the evening. The females were ipostly at the windows, or 
on such elevated stands as favored their view, and the 
party from the Wigwam occupied a large balcony that 
topped the piazza of one of the principal inns of the place. 

The sports of the night commenced with rockets, of 
which a few, that did as much credit to the climate as to 
the state of the pyrotechnics of the village, were thrown 


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up, as soon as the darkness had become sufficiently dense 
to lend them brilliancy. Then followed wheels, crackers, 
and serpents, all of the most primitive kind, if, indeed, 
there be anything primitive in such amusement. The 
“ Fun of Fire ” was to close the rejoicings, and it was cer- 
tainly worth all the sports of that day united, the ginger- 
bread and spruce beer included. 

A blazing ball cast from a shop-door was the signal for 
the commencement of the Fun. It was merely a ball of 
rope-yarn, of of some other material saturated with turpen- 
tine, and it burned with a bright, fierce flame until con- 
sumed. As the first of these fiery meteors sailed into the 
street, a common shout from the boys, apprentices, and 
young men, proclaimed that the fun was at hand. It was 
followed by several more, and in a few minutes the entire 
area was gleaming with glancing light. The whole of the 
amusement consisted in tossing the fire-balls with bold- 
ness, and in avoiding them with dexterity, something like 
competition soon entering into the business of the scene. 

The effect was singularly beautiful. Groups of dark 
objects became suddenly illuminated, and here a portion 
of the throng might be seen beneath a brightness like that 
produced by a bonfire, while all the background of per- 
sons and faces were gliding about in a darkness that al- 
most swallowed up a human figure. Suddenly all this 
would be changed ; the brightness would pass away, and 
a ball alighting in a spot that had seemed abandoned to 
gloom, it would be found peopled with merry countenances 
and active forms. The constant changes from bright- 
ness to deep darkness, with all the varying gleams of light 
and shadow, made the beauty of the scene, which soon ex- 
torted admiration from all in the balcony. 

“ Mai's, c' est charmant !” exclaimed Mademoiselle Vief- 
ville, who was enchanted at discovering something like 
gayety and pleasure among the “ tristes Americains" and 
who had never even suspected them of being capable of 
so much apparent enjoyment. 

“ These are the prettiest village sports I have ever wit- 
nessed,” said Eve, “ though a little dangerous, one would 
think. There is something refreshing, as the magazine 
writers term it, to find one of these miniature towns of 
ours condescending to be gay and happy in a village fash- 


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ion. If I were to bring my strongest objection to Ameri- 
can country life, it would be its ambitious desire to ape 
the towns, converting the case and abandon of a village into 
the formality and stiffness that render children in the 
clothes of grown people so absurdly ludicrous.” 

“What !” exclaimed John Effingham ; “do you fancy it 
possible to reduce a freeman so low. as to deprive him of 
his stilts ! ■ No, no, young lady ; you are now in a country 
where, if you have two rows of flounces on your frock, 
your maid will make it a point to have three, by way of 
maintaining the equilibrium. This is the noble ambition 
of liberty.” 

“ Annette’s foible is a love of flounces, Cousin Jack, and 
you have drawn that image from your eye instead of your 
imagination. It is a French as well as an American ambi- 
tion, if ambition it be.” 

“ Let it be drawn whence it may, it is true. Have you 
not remarked, Sir George Templemore, that the Americans 
will not even bear the ascendency of a capital? Formerly, 
Philadelphia, then the largest town in the country was the 
political capital ; but it 'was too much for any one commu- 
nity to enjoy the united consideration that belongs to ex- 
tent and politics ; and so the honest public went to work 
to make a capital that should have nothing else in its fa- 
vor but the naked fact that it was the seat of government, 
and I think it will be generally allowed that they have suc- 
ceeded to admiration. I fancy Mr. Dodge will admit that 
it would be quite intolerable, that country should not be 
town and town country.” 

“ This is a land of equal rights, Mr. John Effingham, and 
I confess that I see no claim that New York possesses, 
which does not equally belong to Templfeton.” 

“Do you hold, sir,” inquired Captain Truck, “that a 
ship is a brig, and a brig a- ship ? ” 

“ The case is different ; Templeton is a town, is it not, 
Mr. John Effingham ? ” 

“ A town, Mr. Dodge, but not ^Jown. The difference is 
essential.” 

“ I do not see it, sir. Now, New York, to my notion, is 
not a town, but a city” 

“Ah! This is the critical acumen of the editor! But 
you should be indulgent, Mr. Dodge, to us laymen, who 


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2 95 


pick up our phrases by merely wandering about the world, 
or in the nursery perhaps ; while you, of the favored few, 
by living in the condensation of a province, obtain a pre- 
cision and accuracy to which we can lay no claim.” 

The darkness prevented the editor of the Active Inquirer 
from detecting the general smile, and he remained in happy 
ignorance of the feeling that produced it. To say the truth, 
not the smallest of the besetting vices of Mr. Dodge had 
their foundation in a provincial education and in provin- 
cial notions .; the invariable tendency of both being to per- 
suade their subject that he is always right, while all op- 
posed to him in opinion are wrong. That well-known line 
of Pope, in which the poet asks, “ What can we reason, 
but from what we know?” contains the principles of half 
our foibles and faults, and perhaps explains fully that pro- 
portion of those of Mr. Dodge, to say nothing of those of 
no small number of his countrymen. There are limits 
to the knowledge, and tastes, and habits of every man, and, 
as each is regulated by the opportunities of the individual, 
it follows of necessity that no one can have a standard 
much above his own experience. That an isolated and re- 
mote people should be a provincial people, or, in other 
words, a people of narrow and peculiar practices and opin- 
ions, is as unavoidable as that study should make a scholar ; 
though in the case of America, the great motive for sur- 
prise is to be found in the fact that causes so very obvious 
should produce so little effect. When compared with the 
bulk of other nations, the Americans, though so remote 
and insulated, are scarcely provincial, for it is only when 
the highest standard of this nation is compared with the 
highest standard of other nations, that we detect the great 
deficiency that actually exists. That a moral foundation 
so broad should uphold a moral superstructure so narrow, 
is owing to the circumstance that the popular sentiment 
rules, and as everything is referred to a body of judges 
that, in the nature of things, must be of very limited and 
superficial attainments, it cannot be a matter of wonder to 
the reflecting, that the decision shares in the qualities of 
the tribunal. In America the gross mistake has been 
made of supposing, that, because the mass rules in a polit- 
ical sense, it has a right to be listened to and obeyed in all 
other matters — a practical deduction that can only lead, 


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under the most favorable exercise of power, to a very hum- 
ble mediocrity. It is to be hoped that time, and a greater 
concentration of taste, liberality, and knowledge than can 
well distinguish a young and scattered population, will re- 
pair this evil, and that our children will reap the harvest 
of the broad fields of intelligence that have been sown by 
ourselves. In the meantime, the present generation must 
endure that which cannot easily be cured ; and among its 
other evils, it will have to submit to a great deal of very 
questionable information, not a few false principles, and an 
unpleasent degree of intolerant and narrow bigotry, that 
are propagated by such apostles of liberty and learning as 
Steadfast Dodge, Esquire. 

We have written in vain, if it now be necessary to point 
out a multitude of things in which that professed instructor 
and Mentor of the public, the editor of the Active Inquirer 
had made a false estimate of himself, as well as of his fel- 
low-creatures. That such a man should be ignorant is to 
be expected, as he had never been instructed ; that he was 
self-sufficient was owing to his ignorance, which oftener 
induces vanity than modesty ; that he was intolerant and 
bigoted, follows as a legitimate effect of his provincial and 
contracted habits ; that he was a hypocrite, came from his 
homage of the people ; and that one thus constituted 
should be permitted periodically to pour out his vapidity, 
folly, malice, envy, and ignorance, on his fellow-creatures, 
in the columns of a newspaper, was owing to a state of 
society in which the truth of the wholesome adage, “ That 
what is every man’s business is nobody’s business,” is ex- 
emplified not only daily, but hourly, in a hundred other 
interests of equal magnitude, as well as to a capital mis- 
take, that leads the community to fancy that whatever is 
done in their name is done for their good. 

As the “ Fun of Fire ” had, by this time, exhibited most 
of its beauties, the party belonging to the Wigwam left the 
balcony, and, the evening proving mild, they walked into 
the grounds of the building, where they naturally broke into 
groups, conversing on the incidents of tire day, or of such 
other matters as came uppermost. Occasionally, gleams of 
light were thrown across them from afire-ball ; or a rocket’s 
starry train was still seen drawn in the air, resembling the 
wake of a ship at night, as it wades through the ocean. 


HOME AS FOUND. 


297 


CHAPTER XXII. 

“ Gentle Octavia, 

Let your best love draw to that point, which seeks 
But to preserve it.” — Antony and Cleopatra. 

We shall not say it was an accident that brought Paul 
and Eve side by side, and a little separated from the others ; 
for a secret sympathy had certainly exercised its influence 
over both, and probably contributed as much as anything 
else toward bringing about the circumstance. Although 
the Wigwam stood in the centre of the village, its grounds 
covered several acres, and were intersected with winding 
walks, and ornamented with shrubbery, in the well known 
English style, improvements also of John Effingham ; for, 
while the climate and forests of America offer so many 
inducements to encourage landscape gardening, it is the 
branch of art that, of all the other ornamental arts, is per- 
haps the least known in this country. It is true time had 
not yet brought the labors of the projector to perfection 
in this instance ; but enough had been done to afford very 
extensive, varied, and pleasing walks. The grounds were 
broken, and John Effingham had turned the irregularities 
to good account, by planting and leading paths among 
them, to the great amusement of the lookers-on, however, 
who, like true disciples of the Manhattanese economy, had 
already begun to calculate the cost of what they termed 
grading the lawns, it being with them as much a matter of 
course to bring pleasure grounds down to a mathematical 
surface, as to bring a railroad route down to the proper 
level. 

Through these paths, and among the irregularities, 
groves, and shrubberies just mentioned, the party began 
to stroll ; one group taking a direction eastward, another 
south, and a third westward, in a way soon to break them 
up into five or six different divisions. These several por- 
tions of the company ere long got to move in opposite 
directions, by taking the various paths, and while they 
frequently met, they did not often reunite. As has been 


298 


HOME AS FOUND. 


already intimated, Eve and Paul were alone, for the first 
time in their lives, under circumstances that admitted of 
an uninterrupted confidential conversation. Instead of 
profiting immediately, however, by this unusual occur- 
rence, as many of our readers may anticipate, the young, 
man continued the discourse in which the whole party 
had been engaged when they entered the gate that com- 
municated with the street. 

“ I know not whether you felt the same embarrassment 
as myself, to-day, Miss Effingham,” he said, “ w'hen the 
orator was dilating on the glories of the republic, and on 
the high honors that accompany the American name. 
Certainly, though a pretty extensive traveller, I have never 
yet been able to discover^ that it is any advantage abroad 
to be one of the ‘ fourteen millions of freemen.’ ” 

“Are we to attribute the mystery that so long hung 
over your birthplace to this fact ? ” Eve asked, a little 
pointedly. 

“ If I have made any seeming mystery as to the place of 
my birth, it has been involuntary on my part, Miss Effing- 
ham, so far as you at least have been concerned. I may 
not have thought myself authorized to introduce my own 
history into our little discussions, but I am not conscious 
of aiming at any unusual concealments. At Vienna, and 
in Switzerland, we met as travellers ; and now that you 
appear disposed to accuse me of concealment, I may re- 
tort, and say that neither you nor your father ever ex- 
pressly stated in my presence that you were Americans.” 

“ Was that necessary, Mr. Powis ? ” 

“Perhaps not; and I am wrong to draw a comparison 
between my own insignificance, and the eclat that attended 
you and your movements.” 

“Nay,” interrupted Eve, “do not misconceive me. My 
father felt an interest in you, quite naturally, after what 
had occurred on the Lake of Lucerne, and I believe he 
was desirous of making you out a countryman — a pleas- 
ure that he has at length received.” 

“ To own the truth, I was never quite certain, until my 
last visit to England, on which side of the Atlantic I was 
actually born, and to this uncertainty, perhaps, may be at- 
tributed some of that cosmopolitism to which I made so 
many high pretensions in our late passage.” 


HOME AS FOUND. 


299 

“Not know where you were born!” exclaimed Eve, 
with an involuntary haste, that she immediately repented. 

“ This, no doubt, sounds odd to you, Miss Effingham, 
who have always been the pride and solace of a most af- 
fectionate father, but it has never been my good fortune 
to know either parent. My mother, who was the sister of 
Ducie’s mother, died at my birth, and the loss of my father 
even preceded hers. I may be said to have been born an 
orphan.” 

Eve, for the first time in her life, had taken his arm, and 
the young man felt the gentle pressure of her little hand, 
as she permitted this expression of sympathy to escape 
her, at a moment she found so intensely interesting to her- 
self. 

“It was, indeed, a misfortune, Mr. Powis, and I fear 
you were put into the navy through the want of those 
who would feel a natural concern in your welfare.” 

“ The navy was my own choice ; partly, I think, from a 
certain love of adventure, and quite as much, perhaps, 
with a wish to settle the question of my birthplace, prac- 
tically at least, by enlisting in the service of the one that 
I first knew, and certainly best loved.” 

“But of that birthplace, I understand there is now no 
doubt ? ” said Eve, with more interest than she was herself 
conscious of betraying. 

“None whatever. I am a native of Philadelphia. That 
point was conclusively settled in my late visit to my aunt, 
Lady Dunluce, who was present at my birth ?” 

“ Is Lady Dunluce also an American ? ” 

“ She is ; never having quitted the country until after 
her marriage to Colonel Ducie. She was a younger sister 
of my mother’s, p,nd, notwithstanding some jealousies and 
a little coldness that I trust have now disappeared, I am of 
opinion she loved her ; though one can hardly answer for 
the durability of the family ties in a country where the in- 
stitutions and habits are as artificial as in England.” 

“ Do you think there is less family affection, then, in 
England than in America ?” 

“ I will not exactly say as much, though I am of opinion 
that neither country is remarkable in that way. In -Eng- 
land, among the hi'gher classes, it is impossible that the 
feelings should not be weakened by so many adverse in- 


3°o 


HOME AS FOUND. 


terests. When a brother knows that nothing stands be- 
tween himself' and rank and wealth, but the claims of one 
who was born a twelvemonth earlier than himself, he gets 
to feel more like a rival than a kinsman, and the tempta- 
tion to envy or dislike, or even hatred, sometimes becomes 
stronger than the duty to love.” 

“And yet the English themselves say that the services 
rendered by the elder to the younger brother, and the 
gratitude of the younger to the elder, are so many addi- 
tional ties.” 

“.It would be contrary to all the known laws of feeling, 
and all experience, if this were so. The younger applies 
to the elder for aid in preference to a stranger, because he 
thinks he has a claim ; and what man who fancies he has 
a claim is disposed to believe justice is fully done him ; 
or who that is required to discharge a duty imagines he 
has not done more than could be properly asked ? ” 

“ I fear your opinion of men is none of the best, Mr. 
Powis ! ” 

“ There may be exceptions, but such I believe to be the 
common fate of humanity. The moment a duty is created, 
a disposition to think it easily discharged follows ; and of 
all sentiments that of a continued and exacting gratitude is 
the most oppressive. I fear more brothers are aided 
through family pride, than through natural affection.” 

“ What, then, loosens the tie among ourselves, where no 
law of primogeniture exists?” 

“ That which loosens everything. A love of change that 
has grown up with the migratory habits of the people ; and 
which, perhaps, is in some measure fostered by the institu- 
tions. Here is Mr. Bragg to confirm what I say, and we 
may hear his sentiments on this subject.” 

As Aristabulus, with whom walked Mr. Dodge, just at 
that moment came out of the shrubbery, and took the same 
direction with themselves, Powis put the question, as one 
addresses an acquaintance in a room. 

“Rotation in feelings, sir,” returned Mr. Bragg, “ is hu- 
man nature, as rotation in office is natural justice. Some 
of our people are of opinion that it might be useful could 
the whole of society be made periodically to change places, 
in order that everyone might know how his neighbor lives.” 

“You are then an Agrarian, Mr. Bragg ?” 


HOME AS FOUND. 


301 


“As far from it as possible ; nor do I believe you will 
find such an animal in this country. Where property is con- 
cerned, we are a people that never let go so long as we Can 
hold on, sir ; but beyond this, we like lively changes. Now 
0 Miss Effingham, everybody thinks frequent changes of re- 
ligious instructors, in particular, necessary. There can be 
no vital piety without keeping the flame alive with excite- 
ment.” 

“ I confess, sir, that my own reasoning would lead to a 
directly contrary conclusion, and that there can be no vital 
piety, as you term it, with excitement.” 

Mr. Bragg looked at Mr. Dodge, and Mr. Dodge looked 
at Mr. Bragg. Then each shrugged his shoulders, and the 
former continued the discourse. 

“ That may be the case in France, Miss Effingham,” he 
said, “ but in America we look to excitement as the great 
purifier. We should as soon expect the air in the bottom 
of a well to be elastic, as that the moral atmosphere shall 
be clear and salutary without the breezes of excitement.. 
For my part, Mr. Dodge, I think no man should be a judge, 
in the same court more than ten years at a time, and a 
priest gets to be rather commonplace and flat after five. 
There are men who may hold out a little longer, I acknowl- 
edge ; but to keep real, vital, soul-saving regeneration stir- 
ring, a change should take place as often as once in five 
years in a parish ; that is my opinion at least.” 

“ But, sir,” rejoined Eve, “ as the laws of religion are im- 
mutable, the modes by which it is known universal, and 
the promises, mediation, and obligations are everywhere 
the same, I do not see what you propose to gain by so 
many changes.” _ 

“ Why, Miss Effingham, we change the dishes at table, 
and no family of my acquaintance more than this of your 
honorable father’s ; and I am surprised to find you opposed 
to the system.” 

“Our religion, sir,” answered Eve, gravely, “is a duty, 
and rests on revelation and obedience ; while our diet may 
very innocently be a matter of mere taste, or even of ca- 
price, if you will.” 

“ Well, I confess I see no great difference, the main ob- 
ject in this life being to stir people up, and to go ahead. 

I presume you know, Miss Eve, that many people think 


3° 2 


HOME AS FOUND. 


that we ought to change our own parson, if we expect a 
blessing on the congregation.” 

“ I should sooner expect a curse would follow an act of 
so much heartlessness, sir. Our clergyman has been with 
us since his entrance into the duties of his holy office, and 
it will be difficult to suppose that the Divine favor would 
follow the commission of so selfish and capricious a step, 
with a motive no better than the desire for novelty.” 

“You quite mistake the object, Miss Eve, which is to 
stir the people up ; a hopeless thing, I fear, so long as 
they always sit under the same preaching.” 

“ I have been taught to believe that piety is increased, 
Mr. Bragg, by the aid of the Holy Spirit’s sustaining and 
supporting us in our good desires ; and I cannot persuade 
myself that the Deity finds it necessary to save a soul by 
the means of any of those human agencies by which men 
sack towns, turn an election, or incite a mob. I hear that 
extraordinary scenes are witnessed in this country in some 
of the other sects ; but I trust never to see the day when 
the apostolic, reverend, and sober church, in which I have 
been nurtured, shall attempt to advance the workings of 
that Divine power by a profane, human hurrah.” 

All this was Greek to Messrs. Dodge and Bragg, who, in 
furthering their objects, were so accustomed to “stirring 
people up,” that they had quite forgotten that the more a 
man was in “an excitement,” the less he had to do with 
reason. The exaggerated religious sects which first peo- 
pled America,. have had a strong influence in transmitting 
to their posterity false notions on such subjects ; for while 
the old world is accustomed to see Christianity used as an 
ally of government, and perverted from its one great end 
to be the instrument of ambition, cupidity, and selfishness, 
the new world has been fated to witness the reaction of 
such abuses, and to run into nearly as many errors in the 
opposite extreme. The two persons just mentioned had 
been educated in the provincial school of religious notions 
that is so much in favor in a portion of this country ; and 
they were striking examples of the truth of the adage, 
that “ What is bred in the bone will be seen in the flesh,” 
for their common character, common in this particular at 
least, was a queer mixture of the most narrow supersti- 
tions and prejudices, that existed under the garb of re- 


HOME AS FOUND. 


303 


ligious training, and of unjustifiable frauds, meannesses,' 
and even vices. Mr. Bragg was a better man than Mr. 
Dodge, for he had more self-reliance, and was more manly ; 
but on the' score of religion he had the same contradictory 
excesses, and there was a common point in the way of 
• vulgar vice toward which each tended, simply for the 
want of breeding and tastes, as infallibly as the needle 
points to the pole. Cards were often introduced in Mr. 
Effingham’s drawing-room, and there was one apartment 
expressly devoted to a billiard-table ; and many was the 
secret fling and biting gibe that these pious devotees 
passed between themselves, on the subject of so flagrant 
an instance of immorality in a family of so high moral pre- 
tensions ; the two worthies not unfrequently concluding 
their comments by repairing to some secret room in a 
tavern, where, after carefully locking the door, and draw- 
ing the curtains, they would order brandy, and pass a re- 
freshing hour in endeavoring to relieve each other of the 
labor of carrying their odd sixpences, by means of little 
shoemaker’s loo. 

On the present occasion, however, the earnestness of 
Eve produced a pacifying effect on their consciences, for 
as our heroine never raised her sweet voice above the 
tones of a gentlewoman, its very mildness and softness 
gave force to her expressions. Had John Effingham ut- 
tered the sentiments to which they had just listened, it is 
probable Mr. Bragg would have attempted an answer ; 
but under the circumstances, he preferred making his bow 
and diverging into the first path that offered, followed by 
his companion. Eve and Paul continued their circuit of 
the grounds, as 'if no interruption had taken place. 

“ This disposition to change is getting to be universal 
in the country,” remarked the latter, as soon as Arista- 
bulus and his friend had left them, “and I consider it one 
of the worst signs of the times ; more especially since it 
has become so common to connect it with what it is the 
fashion to call excitement.” 

“ To return to the subject which these gentlemen inter- 
rupted,” said Eve, “that of family tiesj I have always 
heard England quoted as one of the strongest instances of 
a nation in which this tie is slight, beyond its aristocratical 
influence ; and I should be sorry to suppose that we are 


3 o4 HOME AS FOUND. 

following in the footsteps of our good-mother, in this re- 
spect at least.” 

“ Has Mademoiselle Viefville never made any remark 
on this subject ? ” 

“ Mademoiselle Viefville, though observant, is discreet. 
That she believes the standard of the affections as high in. 
this as in her own country, I do not think ; for, like most 
Europeans, she considers the Americans to be a passion- 
less people, who are more bound up in the interests of gain 
than in any Other of the concerns of life.” 

/‘She does not know us!” said Paul, so earnestly as 
to cause Eve to start at the deep energy with which he 
spoke. “ The passions lie as deep, and run in currents 
as strong here as in any other part of the world, though 
there not being as many factitious causes to dam them, 
they less seldom break through the bounds of pro- 
priety.” 

For near a minute the two paced the walk in silence, 
and Eve began to wish that some one of the party would 
again join them, that a conversation which she felt was 
getting to be awkward, might be interrupted. But no one 
crossed their path again, and without rudeness or affecta- 
tion, she saw no means of effecting her object. Paul was 
too much occupied with his own feelings to observe his 
companion’s embarrassment, and, after the short pause 
mentioned, he naturally pursued the subject, though in a 
less emphatic manner than before. 

“ It was an old and a favorite theory with the Eu- 
ropeans,” he said, with a sort of bitter irony, “ that all the 
animals of this hemisphere have less gifted natures than 
those of the other ; nor is®it a theory of which they are yet 
entirely rid. The Indian was supposed to be passionless, 
because he had self-command ; and what in the European 
would be thought exhibiting the feelings of a noble nature 
in him has been represented as ferocity and revenge. Miss 
Effingham, you and I have seen Europe, have stood in the 
presence of its wisest, its noblest, and its best ; and what 
have they to boast beyond the immediate results of their 
factitious and labored political systems, that is denied to 
the American — or rather would be denied to the American, 
had the latter the manliness and mental independence to 
be equal to his fortunes 


HOME AS FOUND. 


305 


“Which you think he is not.” 

“ How can a people be even independent that imports its 
thoughts as it does its wares, that has not the spirit to in- 
vent even its own prejudices ? ” 

“ Something should be allowed to habit and to the influ- 
ence of time. England herself, probably, has inherited 
some of her false notions from the Saxons and Nor- 
mans.” 

“ That is not only possible, but probable ; but England, 
in thinking of Russia, France, Turkey, or Egypt, when in- 
duced to think wrong, yields to an English, and not to an 
American interest. Her errors are. at least requited, in a 
degree, by serving her own ends, whereas ours are made 
too often to oppose our most obvious interests. We are 
never independent unless when stimulated by some strong 
and pressing moneyed concern, and not often then beyond 
the plainest of its effects. — —Here is one, apparently, who 
does not belong to our party.” 

Paul interrupted himself, in consequence of their meeting 
a stranger in the walk, who moved with the indecision of 
one uncertain whether to advance or recede. Rockets 
frequently fell into the grounds, and there had been one 
or two inroads of boys, which had been tolerated on ac- 
count of the occasion ; but this intruder was a man in the 
decline of life, of the condition* of a warm tradesman seem- 
ingly, and he clearly had no connection with sky-rockets, 
as his eyes were turned inquiringly on the persons of those 
who passed him from time to time, none of whom had he 
stopped, however, until he now placed himself before 
Paul and Eve, in a way to denote a desire to speak. 

“The young people are making a merry night of it,” he 
said, keeping a hand in each coat-pocket, while he uncere- 
moniously occupied the centre of the narrow walk, as if 
determined to compel a parley. 

Although sufficiently acquainted with the unceremoni- 
ous habits of the people of the country to feel no surprise 
at this intrusion, Paul was vexed at having his tete-a-tete 
with Eve so rudely broken ; and he answered with itiore 
of the hauteur of the quarter-deck than he might other- 
wise have done, by saying coldly — 

“ Perhaps, sir, it is your wish to see Mr. Effingham — 
or — ” hesitating an instant, as he scanned the stranger’s ap- 


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HOME AS FO UA r D. 


pearance — “ some of his people. The first will soon pass 
this spot, and you will find most of the latter on the lawn, 
watching the rockets.” 

The man regarded Paul a moment, and then he re- 
moved his hat respectfully. 

“ Please, sir, can you inform me if a gentleman called 
Captain Truck — one that sails the packets between New 
York and England, is staying at the Wigwam at pre- 
sent.” 

Paul told him that the captain was walking with Mr. 
Effingham, and that the next pair that approached would 
be they. The stranger fell back, keeping his hat respect- 
fully in his hand, and the two passed. 

“That man has been an English servant, but has been a 
little spoiled by the reaction of an excessive liberty to do 
as he pleases. The ‘please, sir,’ and the attitude, can 
hardly be mistaken, while the nonchalance of his manner 
a nous abordir , sufficiently betrays the second edition of his 
education.” 

“ I am curious to know what this person can want with 
our excellent captain — it can scarcely be one of the Mon- 
tauk’s crew ! ” 

“I will answer for it that the fellow has not enough 
seamanship about him to whip a rope,” said Paul, laugh- 
ing ; “ for if there be two temporal pursuits that have less 
affinity than any two others, they are those of the pantry 
and the tar-bucket. I think it will be seen that this man 
has been an English servant, and he has probably been a 
passenger on board some ship commanded by our honest 
old friend.” 

Eve and Paul now turned, and they met Mr. Effingham 
and the captain just as the two latter reached the spot 
where the stranger stood still. 

“ This is Captain Truck, the gentleman for whom you 
inquired,” said Paul. 

The stranger looked hard at the captain, and the captain 
looked hard at the stranger, the obscurity rendering a 
pretty close scrutiny necessary, to enable either to distin- 
guish features. The examination seemed to be mutually 
unsatisfactory, for each retired a little, like a man who 
had not found a face that he knew. 

“There must be two Captain Trucks, then, in the 


HOME AS FOUND. 


307 


trade,” said the stranger; “this is not the gentleman I 
used to know.” 

“ I think you are as right in the latter part of your re- 
mark, friend, as you are wrong in the first,” returned the 
captain. “ Know you I do not ; and yet there are no 
more two Captain Trucks in the English trade than there 
are two Miss Eve Effinghams or two Mrs. Hawkers in the 
universe. I am John Truck, and no other man of that 
name ever sailed a ship between New York and England, 
in my day at least.” 

“ Did you ever command the Dawn, sir ? ” 

“ The Dawn ! That I did ; and the Regulus, and the 
Manhattan, and the Wilful Girl, and the Deborah Angel- 
ina, and the Sukey and Katy, which, my dear young lady, 
I may say, was my first love. She was only a fore-and- 
after, carrying no standing topsail even, and we named her 
after two of the river girls, who were flyers in their way ; 
at least, I thought so then ; though a man by sailing a 
packet comes to alter his notions about men and things, 
or, for that matter, about women and things too. I got 
into a category in that schooner that I never expect to see 
equalled ; for I was driven ashore to windward in her, which 
is gibberish to you, my dear young lady, but which Mr. 
Powis will very well understand, though he may not be 
able to explain it.” 

“ I certainly know what you mean,” said Paul,. “ though 
I confess I am in a category, as well as the schooner, so far 
as knowing how it could have happened.” 

“ The Sukey and Katy ran away with me, that’s the up- 
shot of it. Since that time I have never consented to com- 
mand a vessel that was called after two of our river young 
women, for I do believe that one of them is as much as a 
common mariner can manage. You see, Mr. Effingham, 
we were running along a weather-shore, as close in as we 
could get, to be in the eddy, when a squall struck her 
a-beam, and she luffed right on to the beach. No helping 
it. Helm hard up, peak down, head sheets to windward, 
and main sheet flying, but it was all too late ; away she 
went plump ashore to windward. But for that accident I 
think I might have married.” 

“And what 'connection could you find between matrimony 
and this accident, Captain ? ” demanded the laughing Eve. 


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HOME AS FOUND. 


“There was an admonition in it, my dear young lady, 
that I thought was not to be disregarded. I tried the Wil- 
ful Girl next, and she was thrown on her beam-ends with 
me ; after which I renounced all female names, and took 
to the Egyptian.’' 

“ The Egyptian ! ” 

“Certainly, Regulus, who was a great snake-killer, they 
tell me, in that part of the world. But I never saw my 
way quite clear as bachelor until I got the Dawn. Did 
you know that ship, friend ? ” 

“ I believe, sir, I made two passages in her while you 
commanded her.” 

“ Nothing more likely ; we carried lots of your country- 
men, though mostly forward of the gangways. I com- 
manded the Dawn more than twenty years ago.” 

“ It is all of that time since I crossed with you, sir ; you 
may remember that we fell in with a wreck, ten days after 
we sailed, and took off her crew and two passengers. Three 
or four of the latter had died with their sufferings, and 
several of the people.” 

“ All this seems but as yesterday ! The wreck was a 
Charleston ship, that had started a butt.” 

“ Yes, sir — yes, sir — that is just it — she had started, but 
could not get in. That is just what they said at the time. 
I am David, sir — I should think you cannot have forgotten 
David.” 

The honest captain was very willing to gratify the other’s 
harmless self-importance, though, to tell the truth, he re- 
tained no more personal knowledge of the David of the 
Dawn, than he had of David, King of the Jews. 

“Oh, David!” he cried, cordially; “are you David? 
Well, I did not expect to see you again in this world, 
though I never doubted where we should be hereafter. I 
hope you are very well, David ; what sort of weather have 
you made of it since we parted ? If I recollect aright, you 
worked your passage ; never at sea before.” 

“ I beg your pardon, sir ; I never was at sea before the 
first time, it is true ; but I did not belong to the crew. I 
was a passenger.” 

“ I remember, now, you were in the steerage, ” returned 
the captain, who saw daylight ahead. 

“Not at all, sir, but in the cabin.” 


HOME AS FOUND. 


3°9 


“ Cabin !” echoed the captain, who perceived none of 
the requisites of a cabin-passenger in -the other ; “ oh ! I un- 
derstand, in the pantry ? ” 

“ Exactly so, sir. You may remember my master ; he 
had the left hand state-room to himself, and I slept next 
to the scuttle-butt. You recollect master, sir ?” 

“ Out of doubt, a very good fellow he was. I hope you 
live with him still ?” 

“ Lord bless you, sir, he is dead ! ” 

“ Oh ! 1 recollect hearing of it at the time. Well, David, 
1 hope if ever we cross again we shall be shipmates once 
more. We were beginners, then, but we have ships worth 
living in now. Good-night.” 

“Do you remember Dowse, sir, that we got from the 
wreck ?” continued the other, unwilling to give up his 
gossip so soon. “ He was a dark man, that had had the 
small-pox badly. I think, sir, you will recollect him, for 
he was a hard man in other particulars besides his counte- 
nance.” 

“ Somewhat flinty about the soul ; I remember the man 
well ; and so, David, good- night ; you will come and see 
me, if you are ever in town. Good-night, David.” 

David was now compelled to leave the place, for Cap- 
tain Truck, who perceived that the whole party was get- 
ting together again in consequence of the halt, felt the 
propriety of dismissiog his visitor, of whom, his master, 
and Dowse, he retained just as much recollection as one 
retains of a common stage-coach companion after twenty 
years. The appearance of Mr. Howel, who just at that 
moment approached them, aided the manoeuvre, and in a 
few minutes the different groups were again in motion, 
though some slight changes had taken place in the distri- 
bution of the parties. 


3 IQ 


HOME AS FOUND. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

“How silver sweet sound lovers’ tongues at night, 

Like softest music to attending ears ! ” 

Romeo and Juliet. 

“ A poor matter, this of the fireworks,” said Mr. Howel, 
who, with an old bachelor’s want of tact, had joined Eve 
and Paulin their walk. “The English would laugh at 
them famously, I dare say. Have you heard Sir George 
allude to them at all, Miss Etfe ? ” 

“ It would be great affectation for an Englishman to de- 
ride the fireworks of any dry climate,” said Eve, laughing ; 
“and I dare say, if Sir George Templemore has been silent 
on the subject, it is because he is conscious he knows little 
about it.” 

“ Well, that is odd ! I should think England the very 
first country in the world for fireworks. I hear, Miss Eve, 
that, on the wholes, the baronet is rather pleased with us ; 
and I must say that he is getting to be very popular in 
Templeton.” 

“Nothing is easier than for an Englishman to become 
popular in America,” observed Paul, “ especially if his con- 
dition in life be above that of the vulgar. He has only to 
declare himself pleased with America ; or, to be sincerely 
hated,' to declare himself displeased.” 

“ And in what does America differ from any other coun- 
try, in this respect ? ” asked Eve, quickly. 

“ Not much, certainly ; love induces love, and dislike, 
dislike. There is nothing new in all this ; but the people 
of other countries, having more confidence in themselves, 
do not so sensitively inquire what others think of them. I 
believe this contains the whole difference.” 

“But Sir George does rather like us?” inquired Mr. 
Howel, with interest. 

“He likes some of us particularly well,” returned Eve. 
“ Do you not know that my cousin Grace is to become Mrs. 
— I beg her pardon — Lady Templemore, very shortly ? ” 

“ Good God !t — I s that possible — Lady Templemore ! — 
Lady Grace Templemore ! ” 


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3 TI 


“ Not Lady Grace Templemore, but Grace, Lady Temple- 
more, and graceful Lady Templemore into the bargain.” 

“And this honor, my dear Miss Eve, they tell me you 
refused ! ” 

“They tell you wrong, then, sir,” answered the young 
lady, a little startled with the suddenness and brusquerie of 
the remark, and yet prompt to do justice to all concerned. 
“ Sir George Templemore never did me the honor to pro- 
pose to me, or for me, and consequently he could not be 
refused.” 

“It is very extraordinary ! I hear you were actually 
acquainted in Europe ? ” 

“We were, Mr. Howel, actually acquainted in Europe, 
but I knew hundreds of persons in Europe who have never 
dreamed of asking me to marry them.” 

“This is very strange — quite unlooked for — to marry 
Miss Van Cortlandt! Is Mr. John Effingham in the 
grounds ? ” 

Eve made no answer, but Paul hurriedly observed — 

“You will find him in the next walk, I think, by return- 
ing a short distance, and taking the first path to the left.” 

Mr. Howel did as told, and was soon out of sight. 

“ That is a most earnest believer in English superiority, 
and, one may say, by his strong desire to give you an Eng- 
lish husband, Miss Effingham, in English merit.” 

“ It is the weak spot in the character of a very honest 
man. They tell me such instances were much more fre- 
quent in this country thirty years since than they are 
to-day.” 

“ I can easily believe it, for I think I remember some 
characters of the sort myself. I have heard those who are 
older than I am draw a distinction like this between the 
state of feeling that prevailed forty years ago and that 
which prevails to-day ; they say that formerly England ab- 
solutely and despotically thought for America, in all but 
those cases in which the interests of the two nations con- 
flicted; and I have even heard competent judges affirm, 
that so powerful was the influence of habit, and so success- 
ful the schemes of the political managers of the mother 
country, that even many of those who fought for the inde- 
pendence of America, actually doubted of the propriety of 
their acts, as Luther is known to have had fits of despond- 


V 2 


HOME AS FOUND. 


ency concerning the justness of the reformation he was 
producing ; while latterly, the leaning toward England is 
less the result of a simple mental dependence — though of 
that there still remains a disgraceful amount — than of cal- 
culation, and a desire in . a certain class to defeat the do- 
minion of the mass, and to establish that of a few in its 
stead.” 

“ It would, indeed, be a strange consummation of the 
history of this country to find it becoming monarchical ! ” 

“ There are a few monarchists no doubt springing up in 
the country, though almost entirely in a class that only 
knows the world through the imagination and by means 
of books ; but the disposition in our time is to aristocracy, 
and not to monarchy. Most men that get to be rich dis- 
cover that they are no happier for their possessions ; per- 
haps every man who has not been trained and prepared to 
use his means properly is in this category, as our friend 
the captain would call it, and then they begin to long for 
some other untried advantages. The example of the rest 
of the world is before our own wealthy, and, faute d' imag- 
ination, they imitate because they cannot invent. Exclu- 
sive political power is also a great ally in the accumula- 
tion of money, and a portion have the sagacity to see it ; 
though I suspect more pine for the vanities of the exclusive 
classes than for the substance. Your sex, Miss Effing- 
ham, as a whole, is not above this latter weakness, as I 
think you must have observed in your intercourse with 
those you met abroad.” 

“ I met with some instances of weakness in this way,” 
said Eve, with reserve, and with the pride of a woman, 
“ though not more, I think, than among the men ; and 
seldom, in either case, among those whom we are accus- 
tomed to consider people of condition at home. The self- 
respect and the habits of the latter generally preserved 
them from betraying this feebleness of character, if indeed 
they felt it.” 

“ The Americans abroad may be divided into two great 
classes .; those who go for improvement in the sciences or 
the arts, and those who go for mere amusement. As a 
whole, the former have struck me as being singularly re- 
spectable, equally removed from an apish servility and a 
daggering pretension of superiority; while, I fear, a ma- 


HOME AS FOUND. 


3*3 


jority of the latter have a disagreeable direction toward 
the vanities.” 

“ I will not affirm the contrary,” said Eve, “ for frivolity 
and pleasure are only too closely associated in ordinary 
minds. The number of those who prize the elegancies of 
life for their intrinsic value is everywhere small, I should 
think ; and I question if Europe is much better off than 
ourselves in this respect.” 

“ This may be true, and yet one can only regret that h in 
a case where sr^-much depends on example, the tone of 
our people was not more assimilated to their facts. I do 
not know whether you were struck with the same peculi- 
arity, but, whenever I felt in the mood to hear high mo- 
narchical and aristocratical doctrines blindly promulgated, 
I used to go to the nearest American Legation.” 

“ I have heard this fact commented on,” Eve answered, 
“ and even by foreigners, and I confess it has always struck 
me . as singular. Why should the agent of a republic make 
a parade of his anti-republican sentiments?” 

“ That there are exceptions, I will allow ; but, after the 
experience of many years, I honestly think that such is the 
rule. I might distrust my own opinion, or my own knowl- 
edge ; but others, with opportunities equal to my own, 
have come to the same conclusion. I have just received a 
letter from Europe, complaining that an American Envoy 
Extraordinary, w T ho would as soon think of denouncing 
himself as utter the same sentiments openly at home, has 
given an opinion against the utility of the vote by ballot ; 
and this, too, under circumstances that might naturally be 
thought to produce a practical effect.” 

“ Tant pis. To me all this is inexplicable ! ” 

“ It has its solution, Miss Effingham, like any other prob- 
lem. In ordinary times extraordinary men seldom become 
prominent, power passing into the hands of clever manag- 
ers. Now, the very vanity and the petty desires that be- 
tray themselves in glittering uniforms, puerile affectations, 
and feeble imitations of other systems, probably induce 
more than half of those who fill the foreign missions to ap- 
ply for them, and it is no more than we ought to expect 
that the real disposition should betray itself, when there 
was no longer any necessity for hypocrisy.” 

“ But I should think this necessity for hypocrisy would 


HOME AS FOUND. 


3 r 4 

never cease ! Can it be possible that a people as much at- 
tached to their institutions as the great mass of the Ameri- 
can nation is known to be, will tolerate such a base aban- 
donment of all they chqrish ? ” 

“ How are they to know anything about it ? It is a start- 
ling fact, and there is a man at this instant 'who has not a 
single claim to such a confidence, either in the way of mind, 
principles, manners, or attainments, filling a public trust 
abroad, who, on all occasions, except those which he thinks 
will come directly before the American people, not only 
proclaims himself opposed to the great principles of the 
institutions, but who, in a recent controversy with a foreign 
nation, actually took sides against his own country, inform- 
ing that of the opposing nation that the administration at 
home would not be supported by the legislative part of the 
government ! ” 

“ And why is not this publicly exposed ? ” 

“ Cui hono ? The presses that have no direct interest in 
the matter w^ould treat the affair with indifference or levity, 
while a few would mystify the truth. It is quite impossi- 
ble for any man in a private station to make the truth availa- 
ble in any country in a matter of public interest ; and those 
in public stations seldom or never attempt it, unless they 
see a direct party end to be obtained. This is the reason that 
we see so much infidelity to the principles of the institu- 
tions among the public agents abroad, for they very well 
know that no one will be able to expose them. In addition 
to this motive, there is so strong a desire in that portion of 
the community which is considered the highest, to effect a 
radical change in these very institutions, that infidelity to 
them, in their eyes, would be a merit, rather than an of- 
fence.” 

“ Surely, surely, other nations are not treated in this 
cavalier manner ! ” 

“ Certainly not. The foreign agent of a prince who 
should whisper a syllable against his master would be re- 
called with disgrace ; but the servant of the people is dif- 
ferently situated, since there are so many to be persuaded 
of his guilt. I could always get along with all the attacks 
that the Europeans are so fond of making on the American 
system, but those which they quoted from the mouths of 
our own diplomatic agents.” 


HOME AS FOUND. 


3i5 

“ Why do not our travellers expose this ?” 

“ Most of them see too little to know anything of it. 
They dine at a diplomatic table, see a star or two, fancy 
themselves obliged, and puff elegancies that have no exists 
ence, except in their own brains. Some think with the 
unfaifhful, and see no harm in the infidelity. Others cal- 
culate the injury to themselves, and no small portion would 
fancy it a greater proof of patriotism to turn a sentence in 
favor of the comparative ‘ energies ’ and ‘ superior intelli- 
gence ’ of their own people, than to point out this or any 
other disgraceful fact, did they even possess the opportu- 
nities to discover it. Though no one thinks more highly 
of these qualities in the Americans, considered in connec- 
tion with practical things, than myself ; no one, probably, 
gives them less credit for their ability to distinguish be- 
tween appearances and reality, in matters of principle.” 

“ It is- probable that were we nearer to the rest of the 
world these abuses would not exist, for it is certain that 
they are not so openly practised at home. I am glad, 
however, to find that, even while you felt some uncer- 
tainty concerning your own birthplace, you took so much 
interest in us as to identify yourself in feeling, at least, 
with the nation.” 

“ There was one moment when I was really afraid that 
the truth would show I was actually born an English- 
man ” 

“Afraid!” interrupted Eve ; “that is a strong word to 
apply to so great and glorious a people.” 

“ We cannot always account for our prejudices, and per- 
haps this was one of mine ; and now that I know that to 
be an Englishman is not the greatest possible merit in 
your eyes, Miss Effingham, it is in no manner lessened.” 

“In my eyes, Mr. Powis ! I do not remember to have 
expressed any partiality for or any prejudice against the 
English ; so far as I can speak of my own feelings, I 
regard the English the same as any other foreign people.” 

“ In words you have not, certainly ; but acts speak 
louder than words.” 

“You are disposed to be mysterious to-night. What act 
of mine has declared pro or con in this important affair ! ” 

“ You have at least done what, I fear, few of your 
countrywomen would have the moral courage and self- 


HOME AS FOUND. 


3 l6 

denial to do, and especially those who are accustomed to 
living abroad-^-refused to be the wife of an English baro- 
net of a good estate and respectable family.” 

“ Mr. Powis,” said Eve, gravely, “ this is an injustice to 
Sir George Templemore that my sense of right will not 
permit to go uncontradicted, as well as an injustice to my 
sex and me. As I told Mr. Howel, in your presence, that 
gentleman has never proposed for me, and of course can- 
not have been refused. Nor can I suppose that any 
American gentlewoman can deem so paltry a thing as a 
baronetcy an inducement to forget her self-respect.” 

“ I fully appreciate your generous modesty, Miss Effing- 
ham ; but you cannot expect that I, to whom Temple- 
more’s admiration gave so much uneasiness, not to say 
pain, am to understand you, as Mr. Howel has probably 
done, too broadly. Although Sir George may not have 
positively proposed, bis readiness to do so, on the least 
encouragement, was too obvious to be overlooked by a 
near observer.” 

Eve was ready to gasp for breath, so completely by sur- 
prise was she taken by the calm, earnest, and yet respect- 
ful manner in which Paul confessed his jealousy. There 
was a tremor in his voice, too, usuallyso clear and even, 
that touched her heart, for feeling responds to feeling, as 
the echo answers sound when there exists a real sympathy 
between the sexes. She felt the necessity of saying some- 
thing, and yet they had walked some distance ere it was 
in her power to utter a syllable. 

“ I fear my presumption has offended you, Miss Effing- 
ham,” said Paul, speaking more like a corrected child than 
the lion-hearted young man he had proved himself. 

There was deep homage in the emotion he betrayed, and 
Eve, although she could barely distinguish his features, was 
not slow in discovering this proof of the extent of her 
power over his feelings. 

“ Do not call it presumption,” she said ; “for one who 
has done so much for us all, can surely claim some right to 
take an interest in those he has so well served. As for Sir 
George Templemore, you have probably mistaken the feel- 
ing created by our common adventures for one of more 
importance. He is warmly and sincerely attached to my 
cousin, Grace Van Cortlandt.” 


HOME AS FOUND. 


3*7 


“ That he is so now, I fully believe ; but that a very dif- 
ferent magnet first kept him from the Canadas, I am sure. 
We treated each other generously, Miss Effingham, and had 
no concealments, during that long and anxious night, when 
all expected that the day would dawn on our captivity. 
Templemore is too. manly and honest to deny his former 
desire to obtain you for a wife, and I think even he would 
admit that it depended entirely on yourself to be so, or 
not.” 

“ This is an act of self-humiliation that he is not called 
on to perform,” Eve hurriedly replied ; “ such allusions, 
now, are worse than useless, and they might pain my cousin, 
were she to hear them.” 

“ I am mistaken in my friend’s character if he leave his 
betrothed in any doubt on this subject. Five minutes of 
perfect frankness now, might obviate years of distrust 
hereafter.” 

“ And would you, Mr. Powis, avow a former weakness 
of this sort to the woman you had finally selected for your 
wife ? ” 

“ I ought not to quote myself for authority for or against 
such a course, since I have never loved but one, and her 
with a passion too single and too ardent ever to admit of 
competition. Miss Effingham, there would be something 
worse than affectation — it would be trifling with one who is 
sacred in my eyes, were I now to refrain from speaking 
explicitly, although what I am about to say is forced from 
me by circumstances, rather than voluntary, and is almost 
uttered without a definite object. Have I your permission 
to proceed ? ” 

“ You can scarcely need a permission, being the master 
of your own secrets, Mr. Powis.” 

Paul, like all men agitated by strong passion, was incon- 
sistent, and far from just ; and Eve felt the truth of this, 
even while her mind was ingeniously framing excuses for 
his weakness. Still the impression that she was about to 
listen to a declaration that possibly ought never to be made, 
weighed upon her, and caused her to speak with more cold- 
ness than she actually felt. As she continued silent, how- 
ever, the young man saw that it had become indispensably 
necessary to be explicit. 

“ I shall not detain you, Miss Effingham, perhaps vex 


HOME AS FOUND. 


3 J S 

you,” he said,. “with the history of those early impressions 
which have gradually grown upon me, until they have be- 
come interwoven with my very existence. We met, as you 
know, at Vienna, for the first time. An Austrian of rank, 
to whom I had become known through some fortunate cir- 
'cumstances, introduced me into the best society of that 
capital, in which I found you the admiration of all who 
knew you. My first feeling was that of exultation, at see- 
ing a young countrywoman — you were then almost a child, 
Miss Effingham — the greatest attraction of a capital cele- 
brated for the beauty and grace of its women ” 

“Your national partialities have made you an unjust 
judge toward others, Mr. Powis,” Eve interrupted him by 
saying, though the earnestness and passion with which the 
young man uttered his feelings made music to her ears : 
“what had a young, frightened, half-educated American 
girl to boast of when put in competition with the finished 
women of Austria? ” 

“ Her surpassing beauty r , her unconscious superiority, 
her attainments, her trembling simplicity and modesty, 
and her meek purity of mind. All these did you possess, 
not only in my eyes, but in those of others ; for these are 
subjects on which I dwelt too fondly to be mistaken.” 

A rocket passed near them at the moment, and while 
both were too much occupied by the discourse to heed the 
interruption, its transient light enabled Paul to see the 
flushed cheeks -and tearful eyes of Eve, as the latter were 
turned on him in a grateful pleasure, that his ardent praises 
extorted from her, in spite of all her struggles for self- 
command. 

“ We will leave to others this comparison, Mr. Powis,” 
she said, “and confine ourselves to less doubtful subjects.” 

“ If I am then to speak only of that which is beyond all 
question, I .shall speak chiefly of my long-cherished, de- 
voted, unceasing love. I adored you at Vienna, Miss 
Effingham, though it was at a distance, as one might wor- 
ship the sun ; for while your excellent father admitted me 
to his society and I even think honored me with some por- 
tion of his esteem, I had but little opportunity to ascertain 
the value of the jewel that was contained in so beautiful a 
casket ; but when we met the following summer in Switzer- 
land, I first began truly to love. Then I learned the just- 


HOME AS FOUND. 


Z l 9 


ness of thought, the beautiful candor, the perfectly femi- 
nine delicacy of your mind ; and, although I will not say 
that these qualities were not enhanced in the eyes of 
so young a man, by the extreme beauty of their pos- 
sessor, I will say that, as weighed against each other, I 
could a thousand times prefer the former to the latter, 
unequalled as the latter almost is even among your own 
beautiful sex.” 

“ This is presenting flattery in its most seductive form, 
Powis.” 

“ Perhaps my incoherent and abrupt-manner of explain- 
ing myself deserves a rebuke ; though nothing can be fur- 
ther from my intentions than to seem to flatter, or in any 
manner to exaggerate. I intend merely to give a faithful 
history of the state of my feelings, and of the progress of 
my love.” 

Eve smiled faintly, but sweetly, as Paul would have 
thought, had the obscurity permitted more than a dim view 
of her lovely countenance. 

“Ought I to listen to such praises, Mr. Powis,” she 
asked ; “ praises* which only contribute to a self-esteem 
that is too great already ? 

“ No one but yourself would say this ; but your question 
does, indeed, remind me of the indiscretion that I have 
fallen into, by losing that command of my feelings in which 
I have so long exulted. No man should make a woman 
the confidante of his attachment, until he is fully prepared 
to accompany the declaration with an offer of his hand — 
and such is not my condition.” 

Eve made no dramatic start, assumed no look of affected 
surprise or of wounded dignity ; but she turned on her 
lover her serene eyes, with an expression of concern so 
eloquent, and of a wonder so natural, that could he have seen 
it, it would probably have overcome every difficulty on the 
spot, and produced the usual offer, notwithstanding the 
obstacle that he seemed to think insurmountable. 

“And yet,” he continued, “I have now said so much, in- 
voluntarily as it has been, that I feel it not only due to 
you, but in some measure to myself, to add that the fondest 
wish of my heart, the end and aim of all my day-dreams, 
as well as of my most sober thoughts for the future, centre 
in the common wish to obtain you for a w r ife.” 


320 


HOME AS FOUND. 


The eye of Eve fell, and the expression of her counte- 
nance changed, wh,ile a slight but uncontrollable tremor 
ran through her frame. After a short pause she sum 
moned all her resolution, and in a voice, the firmness of 
which surprised even herself, she asked : 

Powis, to what does alT this tend ? ” 

“ Well may you ask that question, Miss Effingham ! 
You have every right to put it, and the answer, at least, 
shall add no further cause of self-reproach. Give me, I 
entreat you, but a minute to collect my thoughts, and I will 
endeavor to acquit myself of an imperious duty, in a man- 
ner more manly and coherent than I fear has been ob- 
served for the last ten minutes/’ 

They walked a short distance in profound silence, Eve 
still under the influence of astonishment, in which an un- 
certain and indefinite dread of, she scarcely knew what, 
began to mingle ; and Paul, endeavoring to quiet the tu- 
mult that had been so suddenly aroused within him. The 
latter then spoke : 

“ Circumstances have always deprived me of the happi- 
ness of experiencing the tenderness and sympathy of your 
sex, Miss Effingham, and have thrown me more exclu- 
sively among the colder and ruder spirits of my own. My 
mother died at the time of my birth, thus cutting me off 
at once from one of the dearest of earthly ties. I am not 
certain that I do not exaggerate the loss in consequence 
of the privations I have suffered ; but from the hour when 
I first learned to feel, I have had a yearning for the tender, 
patient, endearing, disinterested love of a mother. You, 
too, suffered a similar loss, at an early period, if I have 

been correctly informed ” 

A sob — a stifled, but painful sob, escaped Eve ; and in- 
expressibly shocked, Paul ceased dwelling on his own 
sources of sorrow, to attend to those he had so unintention- 
ally disturbed. 

“I have been selfish, dearest Miss Effingham,” he ex- 
claimed— u have overtaxed your patience — have annoyed 
you with griefs and losses that have no interests for you, 
which can have no interest, with one happy and blessed as 
yourself.” 

“ No, no, no, Powis — you are unjust to both. 1, too, 
lost my mother when a mere child, and never knew her 


321 


HOME AS FOUND. 

love and tenderness. Proceed ; I am calmer, and ear- 
nestly entreat you to forget my weakness, and to proceed.” 

Paul did proceed, but this brief interruption in which 
they had mingled their sorrows for a common misfortune, 
struck a new chord of feeling, and removed a mountain of 
reserve and distance that might otherwise have obstructed 
their growing confidence. 

“ Cut off in this manner from my nearest and dearest 
natural friend,” Paul continued, “ I was thrown, an infant, 
into the care of hirelings ; and, in this at least my fortune 
was still more cruel than your own ; for the excellent 
woman who has been so happy as to have had the charge 
of your infancy, had nearly the love of a natural mother, 
however she may have been wanting in the attainments of 
one of your own condition in life.” 

“ But we had both of us our fathers, Mr. Powis. To me 
my excellent, high-principled, affectionate — nay tender 
father, has been everything. Without him, I should have 
been truly miserable ; and with him, notwithstanding these 
rebellious tears — tears that I must ascribe to the infection 
of your own grief — I have been truly blest.” 

“Mr. Effingham deserves this from you, but I never 
knew my father, you will remember.” 

“ I am an unworthy confidante, to have forgotten this so 
soon. Poor Powis, you were, indeed, unhappy ! ” 

“ He had parted from my mother before my birth, and 
either died soon after, or has never deemed his child of 
sufficient worth to make him the subject of interest suf- 
ficient to excite a single inquiry into his fate.” 

“Then he never knew that child ! ” burst from Eve, with 
a fervor and frankness that set all reserves, whether of 
womanly training or of natural timidity, at defiance. 

“ Miss Effingham ! — dearest Miss Effingham — Eve, my 
own Eve, what am I to infer from this generous warmth ! 
Do not mislead me! I can bear my solitary misery, can 
brave the sufferings of an isolated existence ; but I could 
not live under the disappointments of such a hope, a hope 
fairly quickened by a clear expression from your lips.” 

“ You teach me the importance of caution, Powis, and 
we will now return to your history, and to that confidence 
of which I shall not again prove a faithless repository. 
For the present at least, I beg that you will forget all else.” 

21 


3 22 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“ A command so kindly — so encouragingly given — do I 
offend, dearest Miss Effingham?” Eve, for the second 
time in her life, placed her own light arm and beautiful 
hand through the arm of Paul, discovering a bewitching 
but modest reliance on his worth and truth, by the very 
manner in which she did this simple and every-day act, 
while she said more cheerfully : 

“You forget the substance of the command, at the very 
moment you would have me suppose you most disposed 
to obey it.” 

“Well, then, Miss Effingham, you shall be more impli- 
citly minded. Why my father left my mother so soon 
after their union, I never knew. It would seem that they 
lived together but a few months, though I have the proud 
consolation of knowing that my mother was blameless. 
For years I suffered the misery of doubt on a point that 
is ever the most tender to man — a distrust of his own 
mother ; but all this has been happily, blessedly cleared 
up, during my late visit to England. It is true that Lady 
Dunluce was my mother’s sister, and as such might have 
been lenient to her failings ; but a letter from my father, 
that was written only a month before my mother’s death, 
leaves no doubt not only of her blamelessness as a wife, but 
bears ample testimony to the sweetness of her disposition. 
This letter is a precious document for a son to possess. 
Miss Effingham ! ” 

Eve made no answer ; but Paul fancied that he felt 
another gentle pressure of the hand, which, until then, 
had rested so lightly on his own arm, that he scarcely 
dared to move the latter, lest' he might lose the precious 
consciousness of its presence. 

“I have other letters from my father to my mother,” 
the young man continued, “ but none that are so cheering 
to my heart as this. From their general tone, I cannot 
persuade myself that he ever truly loved her. It is a 
cruel thing, Miss Effingham, for a man to deceive a wom- 
an on a point like that ! ” 

“ Cruel, indeed,” said Eve, firmly. “ Death itself were 
preferable to such a delusion.” 

“ I think my father deceived himself as well as my 
mother ; for there is a strange incoherence and a want of 
distinctness in some of his letters, that caused feelings, keen 


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323 


as mine naturally were on such a subject, to distrust his 
affection from the first." 

“Was your mother rich ?" Eve asked innocently, for, 
an heiress herself, her vigilance had early been directed 
to that great motive of deception and dishonesty. 

“ Not in the least. She had little beside her high line- 
age and her beauty. I have her picture, which suffici- 
ently proves the letter ; had, I ought rather to say, for it 
was her miniature of which I was robbed by the Arabs, 
as you may remember, and I have not seen it since. In 
the way of money, my mother had barely the competency 
of a gentlewoman ; nothing more." 

The pressure on Paul was more palpable, as he spoke 
of the miniature ; and he ventured to touch his compan- 
ion’s arm in order to give it a surer hold of his own. 

“Mr. Powis was not mercenary, then, and it is a great 
deal,” said Eve, speaking as if she was scarcely conscious 
'that she spoke at all. 

“Mr. Powis! He was everything that was noble and 
disinterested. A more generous, or a less selfish man, 
never existed than Francis Powis." 

“ I thought you never knew your father personally ! " ex- 
claimed Eve in surprise. 

“ Nor did I. But you are in error, supposing that my 
father’s name was Powis, when it was Assheton." 

Paul then explained the manner in which he had been 
adopted, while still a child, by a gentleman called Powis, 
whose name he had taken on finding himself deserted by 
his own natural parent, and to whose fortune he had suc- 
ceeded on the death of his voluntary protector. 

“ I bore the name of Assheton until Mr. Powis took me 
to France, when he advised me to assume his own, which I 
did the more readily as he thought he had ascertained that 
my father was dead, and that he had bequeathed the whole 
of a very considerable estate to his nephews and nieces, 
making no allusion to me in his will, and seemingly anxious 
even to deny his marriage ; at least he passed among his 
acquaintances for a bachelor to his dying day." 

“ There is something so unusual and inexplicable in all 
this, Mr. Powis, that it strikes me you have been to blame 
in not inquiring more closely into the circumstances than, 
by your own account, I should think had been done." 


3 2 4 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“ For a long time, for many bitter years, I was afraid to 
inquire, lest I should learn something injurious to a moth- 
er’s name. Then there was the arduous and confined ser- 
vice of my profession, which kept me in distant seas ; and 
the last journey and painful indisposition of my excellent 
benefactor prevented even the wish to inquire after my 
own family. The offended pride of Mr. Powis, who was 
justly hurt at the cavalier manner in which my father’s rel- 
atives met his advances, aided in alienating me from that 
portion of my relatives, and put a stop to all additional 
proffers of intercourse from me. They even affected to 
doubt the fact that my father had ever married.” 

“ But of that you had proof ? ” Eve earnestly asked. 

“ Unanswerable. My aunt Dunluce was present at the 
ceremony, and I possess the certificate given to my mother 
by the clergyman who officiated. Is it not strange, Miss 
Effingham, that with all these circumstances in favor of my 
Legitimacy, even Lady Dunluce and her family, until lately, 
had doubts of the fact ? ” 

“ That is indeed unaccountable, your aunt having wit- 
nessed the ceremony.” 

“Very true ; but some circumstances, a little aided per- 
haps by the strong desire of her husband, General Ducie, 
to obtain the revival of a barony that was in abeyance, and 
of which she would be the only heir, assuming that my 
rights were invalid, inclined her to believe that my father 
was already married when he entered into the solemn con- 
tract with my mother. But from that curse, too, I have 
been happily relieved.” 

“ Poor Powis ! ” said Eve, with a sympathy that her voice 
expressed more clearly even than her words ; “ you have, 
indeed, suffered cruelly, for one so young.” 

“ I have learned to bear it, dearest Miss Effingham, and 
have stood so long a solitary and isolated being ; one in 
whom none have taken any interest ” 

“ Nay, say not that ; we, at least, have always felt an in- 
terest in you — have always esteemed you, and now have 
learned to ” 

“ Learned to ? ” 

“ Love you,” said Eve, with a steadiness that afterward 
astonished herself ; but she felt that a being so placed was 
entitled to be treated with a frankness different from the 


HOME AS FOUND. 


3 2 5 

reserve that it is usual for her sex to observe on similar 
occasions. 

“ Love! ” cried Paul, dropping her arm. “ Miss Effing- 
ham !— Eve — but that we ! ” 

“I mean my dear father — Cousin Jack — myself.” 

. “ Such a feeling will not heal a wound like mine. A 
love that is shared with even such men as your excellent 
father and your worthy cousin will not make me happy. 
But why should I, unowned, bearing a name to which I 
have no legal title, and virtually \vithout relatives, aspire to 
one like you ? ” 

The windings of the path had brought them near a win- 
dow of the house, whence a stream of strong light gleamed 
upon the sweet countenance of Eve, as raising her eyes to 
those of her companion, with a face bathed in tears, and 
flushed with natural feeling and modesty, the struggle be- 
tween which even heightened her loveliness, she smiled an 
encouragement that it was impossible to misconstrue. 

“ Can I believe my senses ? Will you — do you — can you 
listen to the suit of one like me ?” the young man exclaimed, 
as he hurried his companion past the window, lest some 
interruption might destroy his hopes. 

“ Is there any sufficient reason why I should not, Powis?” 

“Nothing but my unfortunate situation in respect to my 
family, my comparative poverty, and my general unworthi- 
ness.” 

“Your unfortunate situation in respect to your relatives 
would, if anything, be a new and dearer tie with us; your 
comparative poverty is merely comparative, and can be of 
no account where there is sufficient already ; and as for 
your general unworthiness, I fear it will find more than an 
offset in that of the girl you have so rashly chosen from 
the rest of the world.” 

“ Eve — dearest Eve,” said Paul, seizing both her hands, 
and stopping her at the entrance of some shrubbery that 
densely shaded the path, and where the little light that fell 
from the stars enabled him still to trace her features — “you 
will not leave me in doubt on a subject of this nature — am 
I really so blessed?” 

“If accepting the faith and affection of a heart that is 
wholly yours, Powis, can make you happy, your sorrows 
will be at an end ” 


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“ But your father ? ” said the young man, almost breath- 
less in his eagerness to know all. 

“ Is here to confirm what his daughter has just declared,” 
said Mr. Effingham, coming out of the shrubbery beyond 
them, and laying a hand kindly on Paul’s shoulder. “To 
find that you so well understand each other, Powis, removes, 
from my mind one of the greatest anxieties I have ever ex- 
perienced. My Cousin John, as he was bound to do, has 
made me acquainted with all you have told him of your 
past life, and there remain? nothing further to be revealed. 
We have known you for years, and receive you into our 
family with as free a welcome as we could receive any pre- 
cious boon from Providence.” 

“Mr. Effingham! — dear sir,” said Paul, almost gasping 
between surprise and rapture — “ this is indeed beyond all 
my hopes ; and this generous frankness, too, in your lovely 
daughter ” 

Paul’s hands had been transferred to those of the father, 
he knew not how ; but releasing them hurriedly he now 
turned in quest of Eve again, and found she had fled. In 
the short interval between the address of her father and 
the words of Paul she had found means to disappear, leav- 
ing the gentlemen together. *The young man would have 
followed, but the cooler head of Mr. Effingham perceiving 
that the occasion was favorable to a private conversation 
with his accepted son-in-law, and quite as unfavorable to 
one, or at least to a very rational one, between the lovers, 
he quietly took the young man’s arm, and led him toward 
a more private walk. There half an hour of confidential 
discourse calmed the feelings of both, and rendered Paul 
Powis one of the happiest of human beings. 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

“You shall do marvellous wisely, good Reynaldo, 

Before you visit him, to make inquiry 
Of his behavior.” — Hamlet. 

Ann Sidley was engaged among the dresses of Eve, as 
she loved to be, although Annette held her taste in too low 


HOME AS FOUND . 


3 2 7 


estimation ever to permit her to apply a needle, or even to 
fit a robe to the beautiful form that was to wear it, when 
our heroine glided into the room, and sank upon a sofa. 
Eve was too much absorbed with her own feelings to 
observe the presence of her quiet, unobtrusive old nurse, 
and too much accustomed to her care and sympathy to 
heed it, had it been seen. For a moment she remained, 
her face still suffused with blushes, her hands lying before 
her folded, her eyes fixed on the ceiling, and then the pent 
emotions found an outlet in a flood of tears. 

Poor Ann could not have felt more shocked had she 
heard of any unexpected calamity, than she was at this 
sudden outbreaking of feeling in her child. She went to 
her, and bent over her with the solicitude of a mother, as 
she inquired into the causes of her apparent sorrow 7 . 

“ Tell me, Miss Eve, and it w 7 ill relieve your mind,” said 
the faithful woman ; “your dear mother had such feelings 
sometimes, and I never dared to question her about them ; 
but you are my own child, and nothing can grieve you 
without grieving me.” 

The eyes of Eve were brilliant, her face continued to be 
suffused, and the smile which she gave through her tears 
was so bright, as to leave her poor attendant in deep per- 
plexity as to the cause of a gush of feeling that was very 
unusual in one of the other’s regulated mind. 

“ It is not grief, dear Nanny,” — Eve at length murmured 
— “anything but that! I am not unhappy. Oh! no; as 
far from unhappiness as possible.” 

“ God be praised it is so, ma’am ! I was afraid that this 
affair of the English gentleman and Miss Grace might not 
prove agreeable to you, for he has not behaved as hand- 
somely as he might in that transaction.” 

“ And why not, my poor Nanny ? I have neither claim, 
nor the wish to possess a claim, on Sir George Temple- 
more. His selection of my cousin has given me sincere 
satisfaction, rather than pain ; were he a countryman of 
our own, I should say unalloyed satisfaction, for I firmly 
believe he will strive to make her happy.” 

Nanny now looked at her young mistress, then at the 
floor; at her young mistress again, and afterward at a 
rocket that was sailing athwart the sky. Her eyes, how- 
ever, returned to those of Eve, and encouraged by the 


328 


HOME AS FOUND. 


bright beam of happiness that was glowing in the counte- 
nance she so much loved, she ventured to say : 

“ If Mr. Powis were a more presuming gentleman than 
he is, ma’am ” 

“You mean a less modest, Nanny,” said Eve, perceiving 
that her nurse paused. 

“ Yes, ma’am — one that thought more of himself, and less 
of other people, is what I wish to say.” 

“ And were this the case ? ” 

“ I might think he would find the heart to say what I 
know he feels.” 

“ And did he find the heart to say what you know he 
feels, what does Ann Sidley think should be my answer ? ” 

“Oh, ma’am, I know it would be just as it ought to be. 
I cannot repeat what ladies say on such occasions, but I 
know that it is what makes the hearts of the gentlemen 
leap for joy.” 

There are occasions in which woman can hardly dispense 
with the sympathy of woman. Eve loved her father most 
tenderly ; had more than the usual confidence in him, for 
she had never known a mother ; but had the present con- 
versation been with him, notwithstanding all her reliance 
on his affection, her nature would have shrunk from pour- 
ing out her feelings as freely as she might have done with 
her other parent, had not death deprived her of such a 
blessing. Between our heroine and Ann Sidley, on the 
other hand, there existed a confidence of a nature so 
peculiar, as to require a word of explanation before we ex- 
hibit its effects. In all that related to physical wants, Ann 
had been a mother, or even more than a mother, to Eve, 
and this alone had induced great personal dependence in 
the one, and a sort of supervisory care in the other, that 
had brought her to fancy she was responsible for the bodily 
health and well-doing of her charge. But this was not all. 
Nanny had been the repository of Eve’s childish griefs, the 
confidante of her girlish secrets ; and though the years of 
the latter soon caused her to be placed under the manage- 
ment of those who were better qualified to store her mind, 
this communication never ceased ; the high-toned and edu- 
cated young woman reverting with unabated affection, and 
a reliance that nothing could shake, to the long-tried ten- 
derness of the being who had watched over her infancy. 


HOME AS FOUND. 


329 

The effect of such an intimacy was often amusing ; the one 
party bringing to the conferences a mind filled with the 
knowledge suited to her sex and station, habits that had 
been formed in the best circles of Christendom, and tastes 
that had been acquired in schools of high reputation ; and 
the other, little more than her single-hearted love, a fidel- 
ity that ennobled her nature, and a simplicity that be- 
tokened perfect purity of thought. Nor was this extraordi- 
nary confidence without its advantages to Eve ; for, thrown 
so early among the artificial and calculating it served to 
keep her own ingenuousness of character active, and pre- 
vented that cold, selfish, and unattractive sophistication, 
that mere women of fashion are apt to fall into, from their 
isolated and factitious mode of existence. When Eve, 
therefore, put the questions to her nurse that have already 
been mentioned, it was more wdth a real wish to know how 
the latter would view a choice on which her own mind was 
so fully made up, than any silly trifling on a subject that 
engrossed so much of her best affections. 

“ But you have not told me, dear Nanny,” she continued, 
“ what you would have that answer be. Ought I, for in- 
stance, ever to quit my beloved father ? ” 

“ What necessity would there be for that, ma’am ? Mr. 
Powis has no home of his own ; and, for that matter, 
scarcely any country ” 

“How can you know this, Nanny?” demanded Eve, 
with the jealous sensitiveness of a young love. 

“Why, Miss Eve, his man says this much, and he has 
lived with him long enough to know it, if he had a home. 
Now, I seldom sleep without looking back at the day, and 
often have my thoughts turned to Sir George Temple- 
more and Mr. Powis ; and when I have remembered that 
the first had a house and a home, and that the last had 
neither, it has always seemed to me that he ought to be 
the one.” 

“And then, in all this matter, you have thought of con- 
venience, and what might be agreeable to others, rather 
than of me.” 

« Miss Eve ! ” 

“ Nay, dearest Nanny, forgive me ; I know your last 
thought, in everything, is for yourself. But, surely, the 
mere circumstance that he had no home, ought not to be a 


33 ° 


HOME AS FOUND. 


sufficient reason for selecting any man for a husband. 
With most women it would be an objection.” 

“ I pretend to know very little of these feelings, Miss 
Eve. I have been wooed, I acknowledge ; and once I do 
think I might have been tempted to marry, had it not been 
for a particular circumstance.” 

“You! You marry, Ann Sidley ! ” exclaimed Eve, to 
whom the bare idea seemed as odd and unnatural as that 
her own father should forget her mother and take a 
second wife. “This is altogether new, and I should be 
glad to know what the lucky circumstance was which 
prevented what, to me, might have proved so great a 
calamity.” 

“ Why, ma’am, I said to myself, what does a woman 
do who marries ? She vows to quit all else to go with 
her husband, and to love him before father and mother, 
and all other living beings on earth — is it not so, Miss 
Eve ? ” 

“I believe it is so, indeed, Nanny ; nay, I am quite cer- 
tain it is so,” Eve answered, the color deepening on her 
cheek, as she gave this opinion to her old nurse, with the 
inward consciousness that she had just experienced some 
of the happiest moments of her life, through the admission 
of a passion that thus overshadowed all the natural affec- 
tions. “ It is, truly, as you say.” 

“Well, ma’am, I investigated my feelings, I believe they 
call it, and after a proper trial, I found that I loved you so 
much better than any one else, that I could not, in con- 
science, make the vows.” 

“ Dearest Nanny ! my kind, good, faithful old nurse ! 
let me hold you in my arms ; and I, selfish, thoughtless, 
heartless girl, would forget the circumstance that would be 
most likely to keep us together, for the remainder of our 
lives ! Hist ! there is a tap at the door. It is Mrs. Bloom- 
field ; I know her light step. Admit her, my kind Ann, 
and leave us together.” 

The bright searching eye of Mrs. Bloomfield was riveted 
on her young friend, as she advanced into the room ; and 
her smile, usually so gay and sometimes ironical, was now 
thoughtful and kind. 

“Well, Miss Effingham,” she cried, in a manner that her 
looks contradicted, “ am I to condole with you, or to con- 


HOME AS FOUND. 


33i 


gratulate ? For a more sudden or miraculous change did 
I never before witness in a young lady, though whether it 
be for the better or the worse— —These are ominous 
words, too— for ‘better or worse, for richer or poorer’- ” 

“You are^ in fine spirits this evening, my dear Mrs. 
Bloomfield, and appear to have entered into the gaieties of 
the Fun of Fire with all your—-” 

“Might, will be a homely, but an expressive word. 
Your Templeton Fun of Fire is fiery fun, for it has cost us 
something like a general conflagration. Mrs. Hawker has 
been near a downfall, like your great namesake, by a ser- 
pent’s coming too near her dress ; one barn, I hear, has 
actually been in a blaze, and Sir George Templemore’s 
heart is in cinders. Mr. John Effingham has been telling 
me that he should not have been a bachelor had there 
been two Mrs. Bloom fields in the world, and Mr. Powis looks 
like a rafter dug out of Herculaneum, nothing but coal.” 

“And what occasions this pleasantry?” asked Eve, so 
composed in manner that her friend was momentarily de- 
ceived. 

Mrs. Bloomfield took a seat on the sofa, by the side of 
our heroine, and regarding her steadily for near a minute, 
she continued^ — 

“ Hypocrisy and Eve Effingham can have little in com- 
mon, and my ears must have deceived me.” 

“ Your ears, dear Mrs. Bloomfield ? ” 

— “My ears, dear Miss Effingham. I very well know the 
character of an eavesdropper, but if gentlemen will make 
passionate declarations in the walks of a garden, with 
nothing but a little shrubbery between their ardent decla- 
rations and the curiosity of those who may happen to be 
passing, they must expect to be overheard.” 

Eve’s color had gradually increased as her friend pro- 
ceeded, and when the other ceased speaking, as bright a 
bloom glowed on her countenance as had shone there 
when she first entered the room. 

“ May I ask the meaning of all this ? ” she said, with an 
effort to appear calm. 

“ Certainly, my dear ; and you shall also know the feel- . 
mg's that prompt it, as well as the meaning,” returned 
Mrs. Bloomfield, kindly taking Eve’s hand in a way to 
show that she did not mean to trifle further on a subject 


33 2 


HOME AS FOUND , . 


that was of so much moment to her young friend. “ Mr. 
John Effingham and myself were star-gazing at a point 
where two walks approach each other, just as you and 
Mr. Powis were passing in the adjoining path. Without 
absolutely stopping our ears, it was quite impossible not 
to hear a portion of your conversation. We both tried to 
behave honorably ; for I coughed, and your kinsman act- 
ually hemmed, but we were unheeded.” 

“ Coughed and hemmed ! ” repeated Eve, in greater 
confusion than ever. “There must be some mistake, dear 
Mrs. Bloomfield, as I remember to have heard no such 
signals.” 

“ Quite likely, my love, for there was a time when I too 
had ears for only one voice ; but you can have affidavits 
to the fact, a la mode de New England, if you require them. 
Do not mistake my motive, nevertheless, Miss Effingham, 
which is anything but vulgar curiosity ” — here Mrs. Bloom- 
field looked so kind and friendly, that Eve took both her 
hands and pressed them to her heart — “you are mother- 
less ; without even a single female connection of a suitable 
age to consult with on such an occasion, and fathers after 
all are but men— — ” 

“ Mine is as kind, and delicate, and tender, as any 
woman can be, Mrs. Bloomfield.” 

“ I believe it all, though he may not be quite as quick- 
sighted in an affair of this nature. Am I at liberty to 
speak to you as if I were an elder sister ? ” 

“ Speak, Mrs. Bloomfield, as frankly as you please, but 
leave me the mistress of my answers.” 

“ It is, then, as I suspected,” said Mrs. Bloomfield, in a 
sort of musing manner ; “ the men have been won over, 
and this young creature has absolutely been left without a 
protector in the most important moment of her life.” 

“ Mrs. Bloomfield ! — What does this mean ? — What can 
it mean ? ” 

“It means merely general principles, child ; that your 
father and cousin have been parties concerned, instead of 
vigilant sentinels ; and with all their pretended care, that 
you have been left to grope your way in the darkness of 
female uncertainty, with one of the most pleasing young 
men in the country constantly before you, to help the 
obscurity.” 


HOME AS FOUND. 


333 


It is a dreadful moment when we are taught to doubt 
the worth of those we love ; and Eve became pale as death 
as she listened to the words of her friend. Once before, 
on the occasion of Paul’s return to England, she had felt 
a pang of that sort, though reflection, and a calm revision 
of all his acts and words since they first met in Germany, 
had enabled her to get the better of indecision, and when 
she first saw him on the mountain, nearly every unpleas- 
ant apprehension and distrust had been dissipated by an 
effort of pure reason. His own explanations had cleared 
up the unpleasant affair, and from that moment she had 
regarded him altogether with the eyes of a confiding par- 
tiality. The speech of Mrs. Bloomfield now sounded like 
words of doom to her, and for an instant her friend was 
frightened with the effects of her own imperfect communi- 
cation. Until that moment Mrs. Bloomfield had formed 
no just idea of the extent to which the feelings of Eve 
were interested in Paul, for she had but an imperfect 
knowledge of their early association in Europe, and she 
sincerely repented having introduced the subject at all. It 
was too late to retreat, however, and first folding Eve in her 
arms, and kissing her cold forehead, she hastened to repair 
a part, at least, of the mischief she had done. 

“ My words have been too strong, I fear,” she said, “ but 
such is my general horror of the manner in which the 
young of our sex, in this country, are abandoned to the 
schemes of the designing and selfish of the other, that I 
am, perhaps, too sensitive when I see any one that I love 
thus exposed. You are known, my dear, to be one of the 
richest heiresses of the country ; and I blush to say that 
no accounts of European society that we have, make for- 
tune-hunting a more regular occupation there, than it has 
got to be here.” 

The paleness left Eve’s face, and a look of slight dis- 
pleasure succeeded. 

“Mr. Powis is no fortune-hunter, Mrs. Bloomfield,” she 
said, steadily ; “ his whole conduct for three years has been 
opposed to such a character ; and then, though absolutely 
not rich, perhaps, he has a gentleman’s income, and is 
removed from the necessity of being reduced to such an 
act of baseness.” 

“ I perceive my error, but it is now too late to retreat. 


334 


HOME AS FOUND. 


' X 


I do not say that Mr. Powis is a fortune-hunter, but there 
are circumstances connected with his history that you 
ought at least to know, and that immediately. I have 
chosen to speak to you, rather than to speak to your father, 
because I thought you might like a female confidante on 
such occasion, in preference even to your excellent natural 
protector. The idea of Mrs. Hawker occurred to me on 
account of her age ; but I did not feel authorized to com- 
municate to her a secret of which I had myself become so 
accidentally possessed.” 

“ I appreciate your motive fully, dearest Mrs. Bloom- 
field,” said Eve, smiling with all her native sweetness, and 
greatly relieved, for she now began to think that too keen 
a sensitiveness on the subject of Paul had unnecessarily 
alarmed her, “and beg there may be no reserves between 
us. If you know a reason why Mr. Powis should not be 
received as a suitor, I entreat you to mention it.” 

“ Is he Mr. Powis at all ? ” 

Again Eve smiled, to Mrs. Bloomfield’s great surprise, 
for, as the latter had put the question with sincere reluct- 
ance, she was astonished at the coolness with which it was 
received. 

“ He is not Mr. Powis legally, perhaps, though he might 
be, but that he dislikes the publicity of an application to 
the legislature. 'His paternal name is Assheton.” 

“You know his history, then ?” 

“ There has been no reserve on the part of Mr. Powis ; 
least of all, any deception.” 

Mrs. Bloomfield appeared perplexed, even distressed ; 
and there was a brief space, during which her mind was 
undecided as to the course she ought to take. That she 
had committed an error by attempting a consultation, in a 
matter of the heart, with one of her own sex, after the 
affections were engaged, she discovered when it was too 
late ; but she prized Eve’s friendship too much, and had 
too just a sense of what was due to herself, to leave the af- 
fair where it was, or without clearing up her own unasked 
agency in it. 

“ I rejoice to learn this,” she said, as soon as her doubts 
had ended, “for frankness, while it is one of the safest, is 
one of the most beautiful traits in human character ; but 


HOME AS FOUND . 


335 


beautiful though it be, it is one that the other sex uses least 
to our own.” 

“ Is our own too ready to use it to the other ? ” 

“ Perhaps not ; it might be better for both parties were 
there less, deception practised during the period of court- 
ship, generally ; but as this is hopeless, and might destroy 
some of the most pleasing illusions of life, we will not 
enter into a treatise on the frauds of Cupid. Now to my 
own confessions, which I make all the more willingly, be- 
cause I know they are uttered to the ear of one of a for- 
giving temperament, and who is disposed to view even my 
follies favorably.” 

The kind but painful smile of Eve assured the speaker 
she was not mistaken, and she continued, after taking time 
to read the expression of the countenance of her young 
friend — 

“In common with all of New York, that town of babbling 
misses, who prattle as water flows, without consciousness 
or effort, and of whiskered masters, who fancy Broadway 
the world, and the flirtations of miniature drawing-rooms 
human nature, I believed, on your return from Europe, that 
an accepted suitor followed in your train in the person of 
Sir George Templemore.” 

“Nothing in my deportment, or in that of Sir George, 
or in that of any of my family, could justly have given rise 
to such a notion,” said Eve, quickly. 

“Justly ! What has justice, or truth, or even probability, 
to do with a report of which love and matrimony are the 
themes ? Do you not know society better than to fancy 
this improbability, child ? ” 

“I know that our own sex would better consult their 
own dignity and respectability, my dear Mrs. Bloomfield, 
if they talked less of such matters ; and that they would 
be more apt to acquire the habits of good taste, not to say 
of good principles, if they confined their strictures more to 
things and sentiments than they do, and meddled less with 
persons.” 

“ And pray, is there no tittle-tattle, no scandal, no com- 
menting on one’s neighbors, in other civilized nations be- 
sides this ? ” 

“ Unquestionably ; though I believe, as a rule, it is every- 


33 6 


HOME AS FOUND. 


where thought to be inherently vulgar, and a proof of low 
associations.” 

“In that we are perfectly of a mind ; for if there be any- 
thing that betrays a consciousness of inferiority, it is our 
rendering others of so much obvious importance to our- 
selves as to make them the subjects of our constant con- 
versation. We may speak of virtues, for therein we pay a 
homage to that which is good ; but when we come to dwell 
on personal faults, it is rather a proof that we have a silent 
conviction of the superiority of the subject of our com- 
ments to ourselves, either in character, talents, social po- 
sition, or something else that is deemed essential, than of 
our distaste for his failings. Who, for instance, talks scan- 
dal of his grocer or of his shoemaker ? No, no, our pride 
forbids this ; we always make our betters the subjects of 
our strictures by preference, taking up with our equals 
only when we can get none of a higher class.” 

“This quite reconciles me to having been given to Sir 
George Templemore by the world of New York,” said 
Eve, smiling. 

“ And well it may, for they who have prattled of your 
engagement, have done so principally because they are in- 
capable of maintaining a conversation on anything else. 
But, all this time I fear I stand accused in your mind of 
having given advice unasked, and of feeling an alarm in 
an affair that affected others instead of myself, which is 
the very sin that we lay at the door of our worthy Man- 
hattanese. In common with all around me, then, I fancied 
Sir George Templemore an accepted lover, and, by habit, 
had got to associate you together in my pictures. ,On my 
arrival here, however, I will confess that Mr. Powis, whom 
you will remember I had never seen before, struck me as 
much the most dangerous man. Shall I own all my ab- 
surdity ? ” 

“ Even to the smallest shade.” 

“Well, then, I confess to having supposed that, while 
the excellent father believed you were in a fair way to be- 
come Lady Templemore, the equally excellent daughter 
thought the other suitoy infinitely the most agreeable 
person.” 

“ What ! in contempt of a betrothal ? ” 

“ Of course I at once ascribed that part of the report to 


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the usual embellishments. We do not like to be deceived 
in our calculations, or to discover that even our gossip has 
misled us. In pure resentment at my own previous delu- 
sion, I began to criticise this Mr. Powis ” 

“ Criticise, Mrs. Bloomfield ! ” 

“ To find fault with him, my dear ; to try to think he 
was not just the handsomest and most engaging young 
man I had ever seen ; to imagine what he ought to be, in 
place of what he was ; and among other things, .to inquire 
who he was ? ” 

“You did not think proper to ask that question of any 
of us,” said Eve, gravely. 

“ I did not ; for I discovered by instinct, or intuition, or 
conjecture — they mean pretty much the same thing, I be- 
lieve — that there was a mystery about him ; something 
that even his Templeton friends did not quite understand, 
and a lucky thought occurred of making my inquiries of 
another person.” 

“ They were answered satisfactorily,” said Eve, looking 
up at her friend with the artless confidence that marks 
her sex, when the affections have got the mastery of reason. 

“ Cost, cosi. Bloomfield has a brother who is in the 
Navy, as you know, and I happened to remember that he 
had once spoken of an officer of the name of Powis, who 
had performed a clever thing in the West Indies, when 
they were employed together against the pirates. I wrote 
to him one of my usual letters, that are compounded of all 
things in nature and art, and took an occasion to allude to 
a certain Mr. Paul Powis, with a general remark that he 
had formerly served, together with a particular inquiry if 
he knew anything about him. All this, no doubt, you 
think very officious ; but believe me, dear Eve, where 
there was as much interest as I felt and feel in you, it was 
very natural.” 

“ So far from entertaining resentment, I am grateful for 
your concern, especially as I know it was manifested cau- 
tiously, and without any unpleasant allusions to third per- 
sons.” 

“In that respect I believe I did pretty well. Tom 
Bloomfield— I beg his pardon, Captain Bloomfield, for so 
he calls himself at present — knows Mr. Powis well ; or, 
rather did know him, for they have not met for years, and 


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he speaks of his personal qualities and professional merit 
highly, but takes occasion to remark that there was some 
mystery connected with his birth, as before he joined the 
service he understood he was called Assheton, and at a 
later day, Powis, and this without any public law, or pub- 
lic avowal of a motive. Now, it struck me that Eve Ef- 
fingham ought not to be permitted to form a connection 
with a man so unpleasantly situated, without being ap- 
prised of the fact. I was waiting for a proper occasion to 
do this ungrateful office myself, when accident made me 
acquainted with what has passed this evening, and perceiv- 
ing that there was no time to lose, I came hither, more led 
by interest in you, my dear, perhaps, than by discretion.” 

“ I thank you sincerely for this kind concern in my wel- 
fare, dear Mrs. Bloomfield, and give you full credit for the 
motive. Will you permit me to inquire how much you 
know of that which passed this evening ?” 

“ Simply that Mr. Powis is desperately in love — a decla- 
ration that I take is always dangerous to the peace of mind 
of a young woman, when it comes from a very engaging 
young man.” 

“ And my part of the dialogue ” Eve blushed to the 

eyes as she asked this question, though she made a great 
effort to appear calm— “ my answer ? ” 

“ There was too much woman in me — of true, genuine, 
loyal, native woman, Miss Effingham, to listen to that, had 
there been an opportunity. We were but a moment near 
enough to hear anything, though that moment sufficed to 
let us know the state of feelings of the gentleman. I ask 
no confidences, my dear Eve, and now that I have made, my 
explanations, lame though they be, I will kiss you and re- 
pair to the drawing-room, where we shall both be soon 
missed. Forgive me, if I have seemed impertinent in my 
interferences, and continue to ascribe it to its true motive.” 

“Stop, Mrs. Bloomfield, I entreat, for a single moment; 
I wish to say a word before we part. As you have been 
accidentally made acquainted with Mr. Powis’s sentiments 
toward me, it is no more than just that you should know 
the nature of mine toward him ” 

Eve paused involuntarily, for though she had com- 
menced her explanation with a firm intention to do justice 
to Paul, the bashfulness of her sex held her tongue tied, at 


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the very moment her desire to speak was the strongest. 
An effort conquered the weakness, and the warm-hearted, 
generous-minded girl succeeded in commanding her voice. 

“ I cannot allow you to go away with the impression that 
there is a shade of any sort on the conduct of Mr. Powis,” 
she said. “ So far from desiring to profit by the accidents 
that have placed it in his power to render us such essential 
service, he has never spoken of his love until this evening, 
and then under circumstances in which feeling, naturally, 
perhaps I might say uncontrollably, got the ascendency.” 

“ I believe it all, for I feel certain Eve Effingham would 
not bestow her heart heedlessly.” 

“ Heart ! — Mrs. Bloomfield ! ” 

“Heart, my dear; and now I insist on the subject being 
dropped, at least for the present. Your decision is proba- 
bly not yet made — you are not yet an hour in possession of 
your suitor’s secret, and prudence demands deliberation^ 
I shall hope to see you in the drawing-room, and until then, 
adieu.” 

Mrs. Bloomfield signed for silence, and quitted the room 
with the same light tread as that with which she had en- 
tered it. 


CHAPTER XXV. 

“To show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very 
age and body of the time, his form and pressure.” — Shakespeare. 

When Mrs. Bloomfield entered the drawing-room, she 
found nearly the whole party assembled. The Fun of Fire 
had ceased, and the rockets no longer gleamed athwart 
the sky ; but the blaze of artificial light within was more 
than a substitute for that which had so lately existed 
without. 

Mr. Effingham and Paul were conversing by them- 
selves in a window-seat, while John Effingham, Mrs. Hawk- 
er, and Mr. Howel were in an animated discussion on a 
sofa; Mr. Wenham had also joined the party, and was 
occupied with Captain Ducie, though not so much so as 
to prevent occasional glances at the trio just mentioned. 


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Sir George Templemore and Grace Van Cortlandt were 
walking together in the great hall, and were visible through 
the open door as they passed and repassed. 

“ I am glad of your appearance among us, Mrs. Bloom- 
field,” said John Effingham, “for certainly more Anglo- 
mania never existed than that which my good friend Howel 
manifests this evening, and I have hopes that your elo- 
quence may persuade him out of some of those notions, 
on which my logic has fallen like seed scattered by the 
wayside.” 

“ I can have little hopes of success where Mr. John Ef- 
fingham has failed.” 

“ I am far from being certain of that ; for, somehow, 
Howel has taken up the notion that I have got a grudge 
against England, and he listens to all I say with distrust 
and distaste.” 

“ Mr. John uses strong language habitually, ma’am,” cried 
Mr. Howel, “and you will make' some allowances for a 
vocabulary that has no very mild terms in it ; though, to be 
frank, I do confess that he seems prejudiced on the subject 
of that great nation.” 

“What is the point in immediate controversy, gentle- 
men ? ” asked Mrs. Bloomfield, taking a seat. 

“ Why, here is a review of a late American work, ma’am, 
and I insist that the author is skinned alive, whereas Mr. 
John insists that the reviewer exposes only his own rage, 
the work having a national character, and running coun- 
ter to the reviewer’s feelings and interest.” 

“ Nay, I protest against this statement of the case, for I 
affirm that the reviewer exposes a great deal more than his 
rage, since his imbecility, ignorance, and dishonesty are 
quite as apparent as anything else.” 

“I have read the article,” said Mrs. Bloomfield, after 
glancing her eye at the periodical, “ and I must say that I 
take sides with Mr. John Effingham in his opinion of its 
character.” 

“ But do you not perceive, ma’am, that this is the idol 
of the nobility and gentry ; the work that is more in favor 
with people of consequence in England than any other? 
Bishops are said to write for it ! ” 

“I know it is a work expressly established to sustain 
one of the most facticious political systems that ever ex- 


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34i 


isted, and that it sacrifices every high quality to attain its 
end.” 

“ Mrs, Bloomfield, you amaze me ! The first writers of 
Great Britain figure in its pages.” 

“ That I much question, in the first place ; but even if it 
were so, it would be but a shallow mystification. Although 
a man of character might write one article in a work of 
this nature, it does not follow that a man of no character 
does not write the next. The principles of the communi- 
cations of a periodical are as different as their talents.” 

“ But the editor is a pledge for all. — The editor of this 
Review is an eminent writer himself.” 

“An eminent writer may be a very great knave in the 
first place, and one fact is worth a thousand conjectures in 
such a matter. But we do not know that there is any re- 
sponsible editor to works of this nature at all, for there is 
no names given in the title-page, and nothing is more 
common than vague declarations of a want of this very re- 
sponsibility. But if I can prove to you that this article 
cannot have been written by a man of common honesty, 
Mr. Howel, what will you then say to the responsibility 
of your editor ? ” 

“ In that case I shall be compelled to admit that he had 
no connection with it.” 

“ Anything in preference to giving up the beloved 
idol!” said John Effingham, laughing. “Why not add 
at once that he is as great a knave as the writer himself ? 
I am glad, however, that Tom Howel has fallen into such 
good hands, Mrs. Bloomfield, and I devoutly pray you 
may not spare him.” 

We have said that Mrs. Bloomfield had a rapid percep- 
tion of things and principles, that amounted almost to in- 
tuition. She had read the article in question, and as she 
glanced her eyes through its pages, had detected its falla- 
cies and falsehoods in almost every sentence. Indeed, 
they had not been put together with ordinary skill, the 
writer having evidently presumed on the easiness of the 
class of readers who generally swallowed his round asser- 
tions, and were so clumsily done, that any one who had not 
the faith to move mountains would have seen . through 
most of them without difficulty. But Mr. Howel belonged 
to another school, and he was so much accustomed to shut 


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his eyes to the palpable mystification mentioned by Mrs. 
Bloomfield that a lie, which, advanced in most works, 
would have carried no weight with it, advanced in this 
particular periodical became elevated to the dignity of 
truth. 

Mrs. Bloomfield turned to an article on America, in the 
periodical in question, and read from it several disparag- 
ing expressions concerning Mr. HoWel’s native country, 
one of which was “ The American’s first plaything is the 
rattlesnake’s tail.” 

“ Now, what do you think of this assertion, in particular, 
Mr. Howel ? ” she asked, reading the words we have just 
quoted. 

“ Oh ! that is said in mere pleasantry — it is only wit.” 

“ Well, then, what do you think of it as wit ?” 

“Well, well, it may not be of a very pure water, but the 
best of men are unequal at all times, and more especially 
i'n their wit.” 

“ Here'” continued Mrs. Bloomfield, pointing to another 
paragraph, “ is a positive statement or misstatement, which 
makes the cost of the ‘civil department of the United 
States Government,’ about six times more than it really 
is.” 

“ Our government is so extremely mean that I ascribe 
that error to generosity.” 

“ Well,” continued the lady, smiling, “ here the reviewer 
asserts that Congress passed a law limiting the size of cer- 
tain ships, in order to please the democracy ; and that the 
Executive privately evaded this law, and built vessels of a 
much greater size ; whereas the provision of the law is 
just the contrary, or that the ships should not be less than 
of seventy-four guns ; a piece of information, by the way, 
that I obtained from Mr. Powis/’ 

“ Ignorance, ma’am ; a stranger cannot be supposed to 
know all the laws of a foreign country.” 

“ Then why make bold and false assertions about them 
that are intended to discredit the country ? Here is 
another assertion — ‘ ten thousand of the men that fought 
at Waterloo would have marched through North Amer- 
ica !’ Do you believe that, Mr. Howel ?” 

“ But that is merely an opinion, Mrs. Bloomfield ; any 
man may be wrong in his opinion.” 


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“ Very true, but it is an opinion uttered in the year of 
our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight ; 
and after the battles of Bunker Hill, Cowpens, Plattsburg, 
Saratoga, and New Orleans ! And, moreover, after it had 
been proved that something very like ten thousand of the 
identical men who fought at Waterloo could not march 
even ten miles into the country.” 

“Well, well, all this shows that the reviewer is some- 
times mistaken.” 

“Your pardon, Mr. Howel ; I think it shows, according 
to your own admission, that his wit, or rather its wit, for 
there is no his about it — that its wit is of a very indifferent 
quality as witticisms even ; that it is ignorant of what 
it pretends to know ; and that its opinions are no better 
than its knowledge : all of which, when fairly established 
against one who, by his very pursuit, professes to know 
more than other people, is very much like making it ap- 
pear contemptible.” 

“ This is going back eight or ten years — let us look more 
particularly at the article about which the discussion com- 
mences.” 

“ Volontiers." 

Mrs. Bloomfield now sent to the library for the work re- 
viewed, and opening the review she read some of its stric- 
tures ; and then turning to the corresponding passages in 
the work itself, she pointed out the unfairness of the 
quotations, the omissions of the context, and in several 
flagrant instances, witticisms of the reviewer that were 
purchased at the expense of the English language. She 
next showed several of those audacious assertions for 
which the particular periodical was so remarkable, leaving 
no doubt with any candid person, that they were pur- 
chased at the expense of truth. 

“ But here is an instance that will scarce admit of cavil- 
ling or objection on your part, Mr. Howel,” she continued ; 
“ do me the favor to read the passage in the review.” 

Mr. Howel complied, and when he had done he looked 
expectingly at the lady. 

“ The effect of the reviewer’s statement is to make it 
appear that the author has contradicted himself, is it not ? ” 

“ Certainly, nothing can be plainer.” 

“ According to your favorite reviewer, who accuses him 


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of it, in terms. Now let us look at the fact. Here is the 
passage in the work itself. In the first place, you will re- 
mark that this sentence which contains the alleged contra- 
diction, is mutilated ; the part which is omitted, giving a 
directly contrary meaning to it, from that it bears under 
the reviewer’s scissors.” 

“ It has some such appearance, I do confess.” 

“ Here you perceive that the closing sentence of the 
same paragraph, and which refers directly to the point at 
issue, is displaced, made to appear as belonging to a sepa- 
rate paragraph, and as conveying a different meaning from 
what the author has actually expressed.” 

“ Upon my word, I do not know but you are right ! ” 

“ Well, Mr. Howel, we have had wit of no very pure 
water, ignorance as relates to facts, and mistakes a-s regards 
very positive assertions. In what category, as Captain 
Truck would say, do you place this ? ” 

“ Why does not the author reviewed expose this ? ” 

“ Why does not a gentleman wrangle with a detected 
pickpocket ? ” 

“It is literary swindling,” said John Effingham, “and 
the man who did it is inherently a knave.” 

“ I think both these facts quite beyond dispute,” ob- 
served Mrs. Bloomfield, laying down Mr. Howel’s favorite 
review with an air of cool contempt ; “ and I must say I 
did not think it necessary to prove the general character 
of the work, at this late date, to any American of ordinary 
intelligence, much less to a sensible man like Mr. Howel.” 

“ But, ma’am, there may be much truth and justice in 
the rest of its remarks,” returned the pertinacious Mr. 
Howel, “ although it has fallen into these mistakes.” 

“ Were you ever on a jury, Howel ?” asked John Effing- 
ham, in his caustic manner. 

“ Often, and on grand juries, too.” 

“ Well, did the judge never tell you, when a witness is 
detected in lying on one point, that his testimony is value- 
less on all others ?” 

“Very true ; but this is a review, and not testimony.” 

“The distinction is certainly a very good one,” resumed 
Mrs. Bloomfield, laughing, “ as nothing, in general, can be 
less like honest testimony than a review ! ” 

“ But I think, my dear ma’am, you will allow that all this 


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345 


is excessively biting and severe. I can’t say I ever read 
anything sharper in my life.” 

“ It strikes me, Mr. Howel, as being nothing but epith- 
ets, the cheapest and most contemptible of all species of 
abuse. Were two men, in your presence, to call each other 
such names, I think it would excite nothing but disgust in 
your mind. When the thought is clear and poignant, there 
is little need to have recourse to mere epithets. Indeed, 
men never use the latter, except when there is a deficiency 
of the first.” 

“ Well, well, my friends,” cried Mr. Howel, as he walked 
away toward Grace and Sir George, “this is a different 
thing from what I at first. thought it ; but still I think you 
undervalue the periodical.” 

“ I hope this little lesson will cool some of Mr. Howel’s 
faith in foreign morality,” observed Mrs. Bloomfield, as 
soon as the gentleman named was out of hearing ; “a ( more 
credulous and devout worshipper of the idol I have never 
before met.” 

“ The school is diminishing, but it is still large. Men 
like Tom Howel, who have thought in one direction all 
their lives, are not easily brought to change their notions, 
especially when the admiration which proceeds from dis- 
tance — distance, ‘ that lends enchantment to the view,’ — is 
at the bottom of their faith. Had this very article been 
written and printed round the corner of the street in which 
he lives, Howel would be the first to say that it was the 
production of a fellow without talents or principles, and 
was unworthy of a second thought.” 

“ I still think he will be a wiser if not a better man, by 
the exposure of its frauds.” 

“ Not he. If you will excuse a homely and a coarse 
simile, ‘he will return like a dog to his vomit, or the sow 
to its wallowing in the mire.’ I never knew one of that 
school thoroughly cured, until he became himself the sub- 
ject of attack, or by a close personal communication was 
made to feel the superciliousness of European superiority. 
It is only a week since I had a discussion with him on the 
subject of the humanity and the relish for liberty in his 
beloved model ; and when I cited the instance of the em- 
ployment of the tomahawk in the wars between England 
and this country, he actually affirmed that the Indian sava- 


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ges killed no women and children but the wives and off- 
spring of their enemies ; and when I told him that the 
English, like most other people, cared very little for any 
liberty but their own, he coolly affirmed that their own was 
the only liberty worth caring for ! ” 

“Oh, yes,” put in young Mr. Wenham, who had over- 
heard the latter portion of the conversation, “ Mr. Howel 
is so thoroughly English, that he actually denies that 
America is the most civilized country in the world, or that 
we speak our language better than any nation was ever be- 
fore known to speak its own language.” 

“ This is so manifest an act of treason,” said Mrs. Bloom- 
field, endeavoring to look grave ; for Mr. Wenham was 
anything but accurate in the use of words himself, common- 
ly pronouncing “ been,” “ ben,” “ does,” “ dooze,” “ noth- 
ing,” “nawthing,” “ few,” “ foo,” &c., &c., “ that, certainly, 
Mr. Howel should be arraigned at the bar of public opin- 
ion for the outrage.” 

“It is commonly admitted, even by our enemies, that 
our mode of speaking is the very best in the world, which, 
I suppose, is the real reason why our literature has so 
rapidly reached the top of the ladder.” 

“And is that the fact?” asked Mrs. Bloomfield, with a 
curiosity that was not in the least feigned. 

“I believe no one denies that. You will sustain me in 
this, I fancy, Mr. Dodge ? ” 

The editor of the Active Inquirer had approached, and 
was just in time to catch the subject in discussion. Now 
the modes of speech of these two persons, while they had 
a great deal in common, had also a great deal that was not 
in common. Mr. Wenham was a native of New York, and 
his dialect was a mixture that is getting to be sufficiently 
general, partaking equally of the Doric of New England, 
the Dutch cross, and the old English root ; whereas Mr. 
Dodge spoke the pure, unalloyed Tuscan of his province, 
rigidly adhering to all its sounds and significations. “Dis- 
sipation,” he contended, meant “drunkenness;” “ugly,” 
“vicious;” “clever,” “ good-natured ; ” and “humbly” 
(homely), “ugly.” In addition to this finesse in significa- 
tions, he had a variety of pronunciations that often put 
strangers at fault, and to which he adhered with a pertin- 
acity that obtained some of its force from the fact that it 


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exceeded his power to get rid of them. Notwithstanding 
all these little peculiarities — peculiarities as respects every 
one but those who dwelt in his own province, Mr. Dodge 
had also taken up the notion of his superiority on the sub- 
ject of language, and always treated the matter as one that 
was placed quite beyond dispute by its publicity and truth. 

“The progress of American literature,” returned the 
editor, “ is really astonishing the four quarters of the 
world. I believe it is very generally admitted, now, that 
our pulpit and bar are at the very summit of these two 
professions. Then we have much the best poets of the 
age, while eleven of our novelists surpass any of all other 
countries. The American Philosophical Society is, I be- 
lieve, generally considered the most acute learned body 
now existing, unless, indeed, the New York Historical So- 
ciety may compete with it for that honor. Some persons 
give the palm to one, and some to the other ; though I my- 
self think it would be difficult to decide between them. 
Then to what a pass has the drama risen of late years ! 
Genius is getting to be quite a drug in America! ” 

“You have forgotten to speak of the press, in particu- 
lar,” put in the complacent Mr. Wenham. “ I think we 
may more safely pride ourselves on the high character of 
the press than anything else.” 

“ Why, to tell you the truth, sir,” answered Steadfast, 
taking the other by the arm and leading him so slowly 
away, that a part of what followed was heard by the two 
amused listeners, “ modesty is so infallibly the cqmpanion 
of merit, that we who are engaged in that high pursuit, do 
not like to say anything in our own favor. You never de- 
tect a newspaper in the weakness of extolling itself ; but, 
between ourselves, I may say, after a close examination of 
the condition of the press in other countries, I have come 
to the conclusion that, for talents, taste, candor, philos- 
ophy, genius, honesty, and truth, the press of the United 
States stands at the very ” 

Here Mr. Dodge passed so far from the listeners, that 
the rest of the speech became inaudible, though from the 
well-established modesty of the man and the editor, there 
can be little doubt of the manner in which he concluded 
the sentence. 

“ It is said in Europe,” observed John Effingham, his 


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fine face expressing the cool sarcasm in which he was so 
apt to indulge, “ that there are lavieille and la jeune France. 
I think we have now had pretty fair specimens of old and 
young America ; the first distrusting everything native, 
even to a potato ; and the second distrusting nothing, and 
least of all, itself.” 

“ There appears to be a sort "of pendulum-uneasiness in 
mankind,” said Mrs. Bloomfield, “ that keeps opinion 
always vibrating around the centre of truth, for I think it 
the rarest thing in the world to find a man or woman who 
has not a disposition, as soon as an error is abandoned, to 
fly off into its opposite extreme. From believing we had 
nothing worthy of a thought, there is a set springing up 
who appear to have jumped to the conclusion that we have 
everything.” 

“Aye, this is one of the reasons that all the rest of the 
world laugh at us.” 

“Laugh at us, Mr. Effingham! Even I had supposed 
the American name had, at last, got to be in good credit 
in other parts of the world.” 

“Then even you, my dear Mrs. Bloomfield, are notably 
mistaken. Europe, it is true, is beginning to give us credit 
for not being quite as bad as she once thought us ; but we 
are far, very far, from being yet admitted to the ordinary 
level of nations, as respects goodness.” 

“ Surely they give us credit for energy, enterprise, ac- 
tivity ” 

“ Qualities that they prettily term, rapacity, cunning, 
and swindling ! I am far, very far, however, from giving 
credit to all that it suits the interests and prejudices of 
Europe, especially of our venerable kinswoman, Old Eng- 
land, to circulate and think to the prejudice of this country, 
which, in my poor judgment, has as much substantial 
merit to boast of as any nation on earth ; though, in get- 
ting rid of a set of ancient vices and follies, it has not had 
the sagacity to discover that it is fast falling into pretty 
tolerable, or, if you like it better, intolerable substitutes.” 

“ What then do you deem our greatest error — our weak- 
est point ? ” 

“Provincialisms, with their train of narrow prejudices, 
^and a disposition to set up mediocrity as perfection, under 
the double influence of an ignorance that unavoidably 


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arises from a want of models, and of the irresistible ten- 
dency to mediocrity, in a nation where the common mind 
so imperiously rules.” 

“ But does not the common mind rule everywhere ? Is 
not public opinion always stronger than law ? ” 

“ In a certain sense, both these positions may be true. 
But in a nation like this, without a capital, one that is all 
provinces, in which intelligence and taste are scattered, 
this common mind wants the usual direction, and derives 
its impulses from the force of numbers rather than from 
the force of knowledge. Hence the fact that the public 
opinion never or seldom rises to absolute truth. I grant 
you that, as a mediocrity, it is well ; much better than 
common even ; but it is still a mediocrity.” 

“ I see the justice of your remark, and I suppose we are 
to ascribe the general use of superlatives, which is so very 
obvious, to these causes.” 

“ Unquestionably ; men have got to be afraid to speak 
the truth, when that truth is a little beyond the common 
comprehension ; and thus it is that you see the fulsome 
flattery that all the public servants, as they call them- 
selves, resort to, in orde~ to increase their popularity, 
instead of telling the wholesome facts that are needed.” 

“ And what is to be the result ? ” 

“ Heaven knows. While America is so much in ad- 
vance of other nations in a freedom from prejudices of 
the old school, it is fast substituting a set of prejudices of 
its own that are not without serious dangers. We may 
live through it, and the ills of society may correct them- 
selves, though there is one fact that menaces more evil 
than anything I could have feared.” 

“You mean the political struggle between money and 
numbers, that has so seriously manifested itself of late ! ” 
exclaimed the quick-minded and intelligent Mrs. Bloom- 
field. 

“ That has its dangers ; but there is still another evil of 
greater magnitude. I allude to the very general disposi- 
tion to confine political discussions to political men. 
Thus, the private citizen who should presume to discuss 
a political question would be deemed fair game for all 
who thought differently from himself. He would be in- 
jured in his pocket, reputation, domestic happiness, if pos- 


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sible ; for, in this respect, America is much the most in- 
tolerant nation I have ever visited. In all other countries 
in which discussion is permitted at all, there is at least the 
appearance of fair play, whatever may be done covertly ; 
but here it seems to be sufficient to justify falsehood, 
frauds, nay, barefaced rascality, to establish that the in- 
jured party has had the audacity to meddle with public 
questions, not being what the public chooses to call a 
public man. It is scarcely necessary to say that w T hen 
such an opinion gets to be effective, it must entirely de- 
feat the real intentions of a popular government.” 

u Now you mention it,” said Mrs. Bloomfield, “I think 
I have witnessed instances of what you mean.” 

“Witnessed, d'ear Mrs. Bloomfield ! Instances are to be 
seen as often as a man is found freeman enough to have 
an opinion independent of party. It is not for connecting 
himself with party that man is denounced in this country, 
but for daring to connect himself with truth. Party will 
bear with party, but party will not bear with truth. It is 
in politics as in war, regiments or individuals may desert, 
and they will be received by their late enemies with open 
arms, the honor of a soldier seldom reaching to the pass of 
refusing succor of any sort ; but both sides will turn and 
fire on the countrymen who wish merely to defend their 
homes and firesides.” 

“You draw disagreeable pictures of human nature, Mr. 
Effingham.” 

“ Merely because they are true, Mrs. Bloomfield. Man 
is worse than the beasts, merely because he has a code of 
right and wrong which he never respects. They talk of 
the variation of the compass, and even pretend to calculate 
its changes, though no one can explain the principle that 
causes the attraction or its vagaries at all. *So it is with 
men ; they pretend to look always at the right, though 
their eyes are constantly directed obliquely ; and it is a cer- 
tain calculation to allow of a pretty wide variation — but 
here comes Miss Effingham, singularly well attired, and 
more beautiful than I have ever before seen her ! ” 

The two exchanged quick glances, and then, as if fear- 
ful of betraying to each other their thoughts, they moved 
toward our heroine, to do the honors of the reception. 


HOME AS FOUND. 


351 


CHAPTER XXVI. 

“Haply,- when I shall wed, 

That lord, whose hand must take my plight, shall carry 
Half my lave with him, half my care and duty.” — Cordelia. 

As no man could be more gracefully or delicately polite 
than John Effingham when the humor seized him, Mrs. 
Bloomfield was struck with the kind and gentlemanlike 
manner with which he met his young kinswoman on this 
trying occasion, and the affectionate tones of his voice, and 
the winning expression of his eye, as he addressed her. 
Eve herself was not unobservant of these peculiarities, nor 
was she slow in comprehending the reason. She perceived 
at once that he was acquainted with the state of things 
between her and Paul. As she well knew the womanly 
fidelity of Mrs. Bloomfield, she rightly enough conjectured 
that the long observation of her cousin, coupled with the 
few words accidentally overheard that evening, had even 
made him better acquainted with the true condition of her 
feelings, than was the case with the friend with whom she 
had so lately been conversing on the subject. 

Still E.ve was not embarrassed, by the conviction that 
her secret was betrayed to so many persons. Her attach- 
ment to Paul was not the impulse of girlish caprice, but 
the warm affection of a woman, that had grown with time, 
was sanctioned by her reason, and which, if it was tinct- 
ured with the more glowing imagination and ample faith 
of youth, was also sustained by her principles and her sense 
of right. She knew that both her father and cousin es- 
teemed the man of her own choice, nor did she believe the 
little cloud that hung over his birth could do more than, 
have a temporary influence on his own sensitive feelings. 
She met John Effingham, therefore, with a frank compos- 
ure, returned the kind pressure of his hand with a smile 
such as a daughter might bestow on an affectionate parent, 
and turned to salute the remainder of the party with that 
lady-like ease which had got to be a part of her nature. 

“ There goes one of the most attractive pictures that 
humanity can offer,” said John Effingham to Mrs. Bloom- 


352 


HOME AS FOUND. 


field, as Eve walked away ; “a young', timid, modest, sen- 
sitive girl, so strong in her principles, so conscious of rec- 
titude, so pure of thought, and so warm in her affections, 
that she views her selection of a husband, as others view 
their acts of duty and religious faith. With her love has 
no shame, as it has no weakness.” 

“ Eve . Effingham is as faultless as comports with woman- 
hood ; and yet I confess ignorance of my own sex, if she 
receive Mr. Powis as calmly as she received her cousin.” 

“ Perhaps not, for in that case she could scarcely feel 
the passion. You perceive that he avoids oppressing her 
with his notice, and that the meeting passes off without 
embarrassment. I do believe there is an elevating prin- 
ciple in love, that, by causing us to wish to be worthy of 
the object most prized, produces the desired effects by. 
stimulating exertion. There, now, are two as perfect 
beings as one ordinarily meets with, each oppressed by a 
sense of his or her unworthiness to be the choice of the 
other.” 

“ Does love, then, teach humility ; successful love, too?” 

“Does it not ? It would be hardly fair to press this 
matter on. you, a married woman ; for, by the pandects 
of American society, a man may philosophize on love, 
prattle about it, trifle on the subject, and even analyze the 
passion with a miss in her teens, and yet he shall not 
allude to it in a discourse with a matron. Well, chacun a 
son gout ; we are, indeed, a little peculiar in our usages, 
and have promoted a good deal of village coquetry, and 
the flirtations of the maypole, to the drawing-room.” 

“ Is it not better that such follies should be confined to 
youth, than that they should invade the sanctity of mar- 
ried life, as I understand is too much the case elsewhere ? ” 

“ Perhaps so ; though I confess it is easier to dispose of 
a straightforward proposition from a mother, a father, or a 
commissioned friend, than to get rid of a young lady, who, 
propria persona , angles on her own account. While abroad, 
I had a dozen proposals ” 

“ Proposals ! ” exclaimed Mrs. Bloomfield, holding up 
both hands, and shaking her head incredulously. 

“ Proposals ! Why not, ma’am ? — am I more than fifty ? 
am I not reasonably youthful for that period of life, and 
have I not six or eight thousand a year ” 


HOME AS FOUND. 


353 


“Eighteen, or you are much scandalized.” 

“Well, eighteen, if you will,” coolly returned the other, 
in whose eyes money was no merit, for he was born to a 
fortune, and always treated it as a means, And not as the 
end of life ; “ every dollar is a magnet, after one has 
turned forty. Do you suppose that a single man, of tol- 
erable person, well born, and with a hundred thousand 
francs qf rentes , could entirely escape proposals from the 
ladies in Europe?” 

“ This is so revolting to all our American notions that, 
though I have often heard of such things, I have always 
found it difficult to believe them ! ” 

“And is it more revolting for the friends of young 
ladies to look out for them, on such occasions, than that 
the young ladies should take the affair into their own 
hands, as is practised quite as openly here ?” 

“ It is well you are a confirmed bachelor, or declara- 
tions like these would mar your fortunes. I will admit 
that the school is not as retiring and diffident as formerly ; 
for we are all ready enough to say that no times are equal 
to our own times ; but I shall strenuously protest against 
your interpretation of the nature and artlessness of an 
American girl.” 

“Artlessness!” repeated John Effingham, with a slight 
lifting of the eyebrows; “we live in an age when new 
dictionaries and vocabularies are necessary to understand 
each other’s meaning. It is artlessness with a vengeance, 
to beset an old fellow of fifty as one would besiege a town. 
Hist! Ned is retiring with his daughter, my dear Mrs. 
Bloomfield, and it will not be long before I shall be sum- 
moned to a family council. Well, we will keep the secret 
until it is publicly proclaimed.” 

John Effingham was right, for his two cousins left the 
room together and retired to the library, but in a way to 
attract no particular attention, except in those who were 
enlightened on the subject of what had already passed that 
evening. When they were alone Mr. Effingham turned the 
key, and then he gave a free vent to his paternal 'feelings. 

Between Eve and her parent there had always existed a 
confidence exceeding that which it is common to find be- 
tween father and daughter. In one sense they had been 
all in all to each other, and Eve had never hesitated about 


23 


354 


HOME AS FOUND . 


pouring those feelings into his breast which, had she pos- 
sessed another parent, would more naturally have been 
confided to the affection of a mother. When their eyes 
first met, therefore, they were mutually beaming with an 
expression of confidence and love such as might, in a 
measure, have been expected between two of the gentler 
sex. Mr. Effingham folded his child to his heart, pressed 
her there tenderly for near a minute in silence, and then 
kissing her burning cheek he permitted her to look up. 

“This answers all my fondest hopes, Eve ! ” he exclaimed ; 
“fulfils my most cherished wishes for thy sake.” 

“ Dearest sir ! ” 

“Yes, my love, I have long secretly prayed that such 
might be your good fortune ; for, of all the youths we have 
met, at home or abroad, Paul Powis is the one to whom I 
can consign you with the most confidence that he will cher- 
ish and love you as you deserve to be cherished and loved ! ” 

“ Dearest father, nothing but this was wanting to com- 
plete my perfect happiness.” 

Mr. Effingham kissed his daughter again, and he was 
then enabled to pursue the conversation with greater com- 
posure. 

“ Powis and I have had a full explanation,” he said, 
“though in order to obtain it I have been obliged to give 
him strong encouragement ” 

“ Father ! ” 

“ Nay, my love, your delicacy and feelings have been 
sufficiently respected, but he has so much diffidence of 
himself, and permits the unpleasant circumstances con- 
nected with his birth to weigh so much on his mind, that 
I have been compelled to tell him, what I am sure you will 
approve, that we disregard family connections, and look 
only to the merit of the individual.” 

“ I hope, father, nothing was said to give Mr. Powis rea- 
son to suppose we did not deem him every way our equal.” 

“ Certainly not. He is a gentleman, and I can claim to 
be no more. There is but one thing in which connections 
ought to influence an American marriage, where the par- 
ties are suited to each other in the main requisites, and 
that is to ascertain that neither should be carried, neces- 
sarily, into associations for which their habits have given 
them too much and too good tastes to enter into. A woman 


HOME AS FOUND. 


355 


especially ought never to be transplanted from a polished 
to an unpolished circle ; for, when this is the case, if really 
a lady, there will be a dangerous clog on her affection for 
her husband. This one great point assured, I see no other 
about which a parent need feel concern.” 

“ Powis, unhappily, has no connections in this country ; 
or none with whom he has any communications ; and those 
he has in England are of a class to do him credit.” 

“We have been conversing of this, and he has mani- 
fested so much proper feeling that it has even raised him 
in my esteem. I knew his father’s family, and must have 
known his' father, I think, though there were two or three 
Asshetons of the name of John. It is a highly respectable 
family of the Middle States, and belonged formerly to 
the colonial aristocracy. Jack Effingham’s mother was an 
Assheton.” 

“Of the same blood do you think, sir? I remembered 
this when Mr. Powis mentioned his father’s name, and in- 
tended to question Cousin Jack on the subject.” 

“Now you speak of it, Eve, there must be a relation- 
ship between them. Do you suppose that our kinsman is 
acquainted with the fact that Paul is, in truth, an Asshe- 
ton ? ” 

Eve told her father that she had never spoken with their 
relative on the subject at all. 

“ Then ring the bell, and we will ascertain at once how 
far my conjecture is true. You can have no false delicacy, 
my child, about letting your engagement be known to one 
as near and as dear to us as John.” 

“Engagement, father ! ” 

“Yes, engagement,” returned the smiling parent, “for 
such I already deem it. I have ventured, in your behalf, 
to plight your troth to Paul Powis, or what is almost 
equal to it ; and in return I can give you back as many 
protestations of unequalled fidelity and eternal constancy, 
as any reasonable girl can ask.” 

Eve gazed at her father in a way to show that reproach 
was mingled with fondness, for she felt that, in this in- 
stance, too much of the precipitation of the other sex had 
been manifested in her affairs ; still, superior to coquetry 
and affectation, and much too warm in her attachments to 
be seriously hurt, she kissed the hand she held, shook her 


356 HOME AS FOUND. 

head reproachfully, even while she smiled, and did as had 
been desired. 

“You have indeed, rendered it important to us to know 
more of Mr. Powis, my beloved father,” she said, as she 
returned to her seat, “though I could wish matters had 
not proceeded quite so fast.” 

“Nay, all I promised was conditional, and dependent on 
yourself. You have nothing to do, if I have said too much, 
but to refuse to ratify the treaty made by your negotiator.” 

“You propose an impossibility,” said Eve, taking the 
hand again that she had so lately relinquished, and press- 
ing it warmly between her own ; “ the negotiator is too 
much revered, has too strong a right to command, and is 
too much confided in to be thus dishonored. Father, I 
will, I do, ratify all you Jiave, all you can promise in my 
behalf.” 

“ Even if I annul the treaty, darling ?” 

“ Even in that case, father. I will marry none without 
your consent, and have so absolute a confidence in your 
tender care of me, that I do not even hesitate to say I will 
marry him to whom you contract me.” 

“ Bless you, bless you, Eve ; I do believe you, for such 
have I ever found you since thought has had any control 
over your actions. Desire Mr. John Effingham to come 
hither” — then, as the servant closed the door, he continued 
“and such I believe you will continue to be until your 
dying day.” 

“ Nay, reckless, careless father, you forget that you 
yourself have been instrumental in transferring my duty 
and obedience to another. What if this sea-monster 
should prove a tyrant, throw off the mask; and show him- 
self in his real colors ? Are you prepared then, thought- 
less, precipitate parent” — Eve kissed Mr. Effingham’s 
cheek with childish playfulness as she spoke, her heart 
swelling with happiness the whole time, “to preach obedi- 
ence where obedience would then be due ? ” 

“ Hush, precious — I hear the step of Jack ; he must not 
catch us fooling in this manner.” 

Eve rose ; and when her kinsman entered the room, she 
held out her hand kindly to him, though it was with an 
averted face and a tearful eye. 

“ It is time I was summoned,” said John Effingham, after 


HOME AS FOUND. 


357 


he had drawn the blushing girl to him and kissed her fore- 
head, “for what between tete-a-tetes with young fellows, 
and t:te-d-t 'tes with old fellows, this evening, I began to 
think myself neglected. I hope I am still in time to ren- 
der my decided disapprobation available ?” 

“ Cousin Jack !” exclaimed Eve, with a look of reproach- 
ful mockery, “ you are the last person who ought to speak 
of disapprobation, for you have done little else but sing 
the praises of the applicant since you first met him.” 

“ Is it even so ? then, like others, I must submit to the 
consequences of my own precipitation and false conclu- 
sions. Am I summoned to inquire how many thousands 
a year I shall add to the establishment of the new couple ? 
As I hate business, say five at once ; and when the papers 
are ready, I will sign them without reading.” 

“ Most generous cynic,” cried Eve, “ I would I dared 
now to ask a single question ! ” 

“Ask it without scruple, young lady, for this is the day 
of your independence and power. I am mistaken in the 
man, if Powis do not prove to be the captain of his own 
ship in the end.” 

“Well, then, in whose behalf is this liberality really 
meant ; mine, or that of the gentleman ? ” 

“Fairly enough put,” said John Effingham, laughing 
again, drawing Eve toward him and saluting her cheek ; 
“ for if I were on the rack, I could scarcely say which I 
love best, although you have the consolation of knowing, 
pert one, that you get the most kisses.” 

“ I am almost in the same state of feeling myself, John, 
for a son of my own could scarcely be dearer to me than 
Paul.” 

“I see, indeed, that I must marry,” said Eve, hastily 
dashing the tears of delight from her eyes, for what could 
give more delight than to hear the praises of her beloved, 
“ if I wish to retain my place in your affections. But, 
father, we forget the question you were to put to Cousin 
Jack.” 

“True, love. John, your mother was an Assheton ? ” 

“ Assuredly, Ned ; you are not to learn my pedigree at 
this time of day, I trust.” 

“We are anxious to make out a relationship between 
you and Paul ; can it not be done ? ” 


358 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“ I would give half my fortune, Eve consenting, were it 
so! — What reason is there for supposing it probable, or 
even possible ? ” 

a You know that he bears the name of his friend, and 
adopted parent, while that of his family is really Asshe- 
ton.” 

“ Assheton ! ” exclaimed the other, in a way to show that 
this was the first he had ever heard of the fact. 

“Certainly ; and as there is but one family of this name, 
which is a little peculiar in the spelling — for here it is spelt 
by Paul himself, on this card— we have thought that he 
must be a relation of yours. I hope we are not to be dis- 
appointed.” 

“Assheton ! — It is, as you say, an unusual name ; nor is 
fhere more than one family that bears it in this country, to 
my knowledge. Can it be possible that Powis is truly an 
Assheton ! ” 

“Out of all doubt,” Eve eagerly exclaimed ; “we have 
it from his own mouth. His father was an Assheton, and 
his mother was ” 

“ Who ? ” demanded John Effingham, with a vehemence 
that startled his companions. 

“Nay, that is more than I can tell you, for he did not 
mention the family name of his mother ; as she was a 
sister of Lady Dunluce, however, who is the wife of 
General Ducie, the father of our guest, it is probable her 
name was Dunluce.” 

“ I remember no relative that has made such a marriage, 
or who can have made such a marriage ; and yet do I per- 
sonally and intimately know every Assheton in the country.” 

Mr. Effingham and his daughter looked at each other, 
for it at once struck them all painfully, that there must be 
Asshetons of another family. 

“Were it not for the peculiar manner in which this 
name is spelled,” said Mr. Effingham, “I could suppose 
that there are Asshetons of whom we know nothing ; but 
it is difficult to believe that there can be such persons of 
a respectable family of whom we never heard, for Powis 
said his relatives were of the Middle States ” 

“And that his mother was called Dunluce?” de- 
manded John Effingham earnestly, for he too appeared 
to wish to discover an affinity between himself and Paul. 


HOME AS FOUND . 


359 


“Nay, father, this I think he did not say ; though it is 
quite probable ; for the title of his aunt is an ancient 
barony, and those ancient baronies usually become the 
family name.” 

“ In this you must be mistaken, Eve, since he mentioned 
that the right was derived through his mother’s mother, 
who was an Englishwoman.” 

“ Why not send for him at once and put the question ?” 
said the simple-minded Mr. Effingham ; next to having 
him for my own son, it would give me pleasure, John, to 
learn that he was lawfully entitled to that which I know 
you have done in his behalf.” 

“ That is impossible,” returned John Effingham. “ I am 
an only child, and as for cousins through my mother, there 
are so many who stand in an equal degree of affinity to 
me, that no one in particular can be my heir-at-law. If 
there were, I am an Effingham ; my estate came from 
Effinghams, and to an Effingham it should descend in spite 
of all the Asshetons in America.” 

“ Paul Powis included ! ” exclaimed Eve, raising a finger 
reproachfully. 

“True, to him I have left a legacy ; but it was to a 
Powis, and not to an Assheton.” 

“And yet he^declares himself legally an Assheton, and 
not a Powis.” 

“ Say no more of this, Eve ; it is unpleasant to me. I 
hate the name of Assheton, though it was my mother’s, 
and could wish never to hear it again.” 

Eve and her father were mute, for their kinsman, 
usually so proud and self-restrained, spoke with sup- 
pressed emotion, and it was plain that, for some hidden 
ca*use, he felt even more than he expressed. The idea 
that there should be anything about Paul that could 
render him an object of dislike to one as dear to her as 
her cousin, was inexpressibly painful to the former, and 
she regretted that the subject had ever been introduced. 
Not so with her father. Simple, direct, and full of truth, 
Mr. Effingham rightly enough believed that mysteries in 
a family could lead to no good, and he repeated his pro- 
posal of sending for Paul, and having the matter cleared 
up at once. 

“You are too reasonable, Jack,” he concluded, “to let 


36° 


HOME AS FOUND . 


an antipathy against a name that was your mother’s inter- 
fere with your sense of right. I know that some unpleas- 
ant questions arose concerning your succession to my aunt’s 
fortune, but that was all settled in your favor twenty 
years ago, and I thought to your entire satisfaction.” 

“Unhappily, family quarrels are ever the most bitter, 
and usually they are the least reconcilable,” returned John 
Effingham, evasively. “I would that this young man’s 
name were anything but Assheton ! I do not wish to see 
Eve plighting her faith at the altar to any one bearing that 
accursed name ! ” 

“ I shall plight my faith, if ever it be done,, dear Cousin 
John, to the man, and not to his name.” 

“ No, no — he must keep the appellation of Powis by 
which we have all learned to love him, and to which he 
has done so much credit.” 

“ This is very strange, Jack, for a man who is usually 
as discreet and as well regulated as yourself. I again pro- 
pose that we setid for Paul, and ascertain precisely to what 
branch of this so-much-disliked family he really belongs.” 

“No, father, if you love me, not now!” cried Eve, ar- 
resting Mr. Effingham’s hand as he touched the bell-cord ; 
“ it would appear distrustful, and even cruel, were w r e to 
enter into such an inquiry so soon. Powis might think 
we valued his family more than we do himself.” 

“ Eve is right, Ned; but I will not sleep without learn- 
ing all. There is an unfinished examination of the papers 
left by poor Monday, and I will take an occasion to sum- 
mon Paul to its completion, when an opportunity will 
offer to renew .the subject of his own history ; for it was 
at the other investigation that he first spoke frankly to me 
concerning himself.” 

“Do so, Cousin Jack, and let it be at once,” said Eve, 
earnestly. “I can trust you with Powis alone, for I know 
how much ypu respect and esteem him in your heart. 
See, it is already ten.” 

“ But he will naturally wash to spend the close of an 
evening like this engaged in investigating something very 
different from Mr. Monday’s tale,” returned her cousin ; 
the smile with which he spoke chasing away the look of 
chilled aversion that had so lately darkened his noble 
features. 


HOME AS FOUND . 


361 


“No, not to-night/' answered the blushing Eve. “I 
have confessed weakness enough for one day. To-morrow, 
if you will — if he will, — but not to-night. I shall retire 
with Mrs. Hawker, who already complains of fatigue ; 
and you will send for Powis to meet you in your own 
room, without unnecessary delay.” 

Eve kissed John Effingham coaxingly, and as they 
walked- together out of the library, she pointed toward 
the door that led to the chambers. Her cousin laughingly 
complied, and when in his own room, he sent a message 
to Paul to join him. 

“ Now, indeed, may I call you a kinsman,” said John 
Effingham, rising to receive the young man, toward whom 
he advanced, with extended hands, in his most winning 
manner. “ Eve’s frankness and your own discernment 
have made us a happy family ! ” 

“ If anything could add to the felicity of being accept- 
able to Miss Effingham,” returned Paul, struggling to 
command his feelings, “ it is the manner in which her 
father and yourself have received my poor offers.” 

“Well, we will now speak of it no more. I saw from 
the first which way things were tending, and it was my 
plain-dealing that opened the eyes of Templemore to the 
impossibility of his ever succeeding, by which means his 
heart has been kept from breaking.” 

“Oh! Mr. Effingham, Templemore never loved Eve 
Effingham ! I thought so once, and he thought so, too ; 
but it could not have been a love like mine.” . 

“ It certainly differed in the essential circumstance of 
reciprocity, which, in itself, singularly qualifies the pas- 
sion, so far as duration is cpncerned. Templemore did 
not exactly know the reason why he preferred Eve; but, 
having seen so much of the society in which he lived, I 
was enabled to detect the cause. Accustomed to an elab- 
orate sophistication, the singular union of refinement and 
nature caught his fancy, for the English seldom see the 
last separated from vulgarity; and when it is found, soft- 
ened by a high intelligence and polished manners, it has 
usually great attractions for the blas'es .” 

“ He is fortunate in having so readily found a substitute 
for Eve Effingham ! ” 

“ This change is not unnatural, either. In the first place, 


362 


HOME AS FOUND. 


I, with this truth-telling tongue, destroyed all hope be- 
fore lie had committed himself by a declaration ; and 
then Grace Van Cortlandt possesses the great attraction 
of nature in a degree quite equal to that of her cousin. 
Besides, Templemore, though a gentleman, and a brave 
man, and a worthy one, is not remarkable for qualities of 
a very extraordinary kind. He will be as happy as is usual 
for an Englishman of his class to be, and he has no parti- 
cular right to expect more. I sent for you, however, less 
to talk of love than to trace its unhappy consequences in 
this affair, revealed by the papers of poor Monday. It is 
time we acquitted ourselves of that trust. Do me the fa- 
vor to open the dressing-case that stands on the toilet- 
table ; you will find in it the key that belongs to the 
bureau, where I have placed the secretaire that contains 
the papers.” 

Paul did as desired. The dressing-case was complicated 
and large, having several compartments, none of which 
were fastened. In the first opened, he saw a miniature 
of a female so beautiful that his eye rested on it, as it 
might be, by a fascination. Notwithstanding some differ- 
ence produced by the fashions of different periods, the re- 
semblance to the object of his love was obvious at a glance. 
Borne away by the pleasure of the discovery, and actually 
believing that he saw a picture of Eve, drawn in a dress 
that did not in a great degree vary from the present attire, 
fashion having undergone no very striking revolution in 
the last twenty years, he exclaimed — 

“ This is indeed a treasure, Mr. Effingham, and most 
sincerely do I envy you its possession. It is like, and yet, 
in some particulars, it is unlike — it scarcely does Miss 
Effingham justice about the nose and forehead ! ” 

John Effingham started when he saw the miniature in 
Paul’s hand, but, recovering himself, he smiled at the 
eager delusion of his young friend, and said with perfect 
composure : 

“ It is not Eve, but her mother. The two features you 
have named in the former came from my family ; but in 
all the others the likeness is almost identical.” 

“ This then is Mrs. Effingham ! ” murmured Paul, gazing 
on the face of the mother of his love with a respectful 
melancholy, and an interest that was rather heightened 


HOME A'S FOUND. 363 

♦ 

than lessened by a knowledge of the truth. “ She died 
young, sir ? ■* 

“Quite ; she can scarcely be said to have become an 
angel too soon, for she was always one.” 

This was said with a feeling that did not escape Paul, 
though it surprised him. There were six or seven minia- 
ture-cases in the compartment of the dressing-box, and 
supposing that the one which lay uppermost belonged to 
the miniature in his hand, he raised it and opened the lid 
with a view to replace the picture of Eve’s mother with a 
species of pious reverence. Instead of finding an empty 
case, however, another miniature met his eye. The excla- 
mation that now escaped the young man was one of de- 
light and surprise. 

“ That must be my grandmother with whom you are in 
such raptures at present,” said John Effingham, laughing. 
“ I was comparing it yesterday with the picture of Eve, 
which is in the Russia-leather case that you will find some- 
where there. I do not wonder, however, at your admiration, 
for she was a beauty in her day, and no woman is fool 
enough to be painted after she grows ugly.” 

“Not so — not so — Mr. Effingham! This is the minia- 
ture I lost in the Montauk, and which I had given up as 
booty to the Arabs. It has, doubtless, found its way into 
your state-room, and has been put among your effects by 
your man through mistake. It is very precious to me, for 
it is nearly every memorial I possess of my own mother ! ” 

“ Your mother ! ” exclaimed John Effingham, rising. “ I 
think there must be some mistake, for I examined all 
those pictures this very morning, and it is the first time 
they hjive been opened since our arrival from Europe. It 
cannot be the missing picture.” 

“ Mine it is certainly ; in that I cannot be mistaken ! ” 

“It would be. odd, indeed, if one of my grandmothers, 
for both are there, should prove to be your mother. Powis, 
will you have the goodness to let me see the picture you 
mean.” 

Paul brought the miniature and a light, placing both 
before the eyes of his friend. 

“ That ! ” exclaimed John Effingham, his voice sounding 
harsh and unnatural to the listener. — “that picture like 
your mother ! ” 


3 6 4 


HOME AS' FOUND. 


“ It is her miniature— the miniature that was trans- 
mitted to me from those who had charge of my child- 
hood. I cannot be mistaken as to the countenance or the 
dress.” 

“And your father’s name was Assheton ?” 

“Certainly — John Assheton, of the Asshetons of Penn- 
sylvania.” 

John Effingham groaned aloud ; when Paul stepped 
back, equally shocked and surprised, he saw that the face 
of his friend was almost livid, and that the hand which 
held the picture shook like the aspen. 

“ Are you unwell, dear Mr. Effingham ? ” 

“No — no — ’tis impossible! This lady never had a 
child. Powis, you have been deceived by some fancied or 
some real resemblance. This picture is mine, and has not 
been out of my possession these five-and-twenty years.” 

“ Pardon me, sir, it is the picture of my mother, and no 
other ; the very picture lost in the Montauk.” 

The gaze that John Effingham cast upon the young man 
was ghastly ; and Paul was about to ring the bell, but a 
gesture of denial prevented him. 

“See,” said John Effingham hoarsely, as he touched a 
spring in the setting, and exposed to view the initials of 
two names interwoven with hair — “ is this, too, yours ? ” 

Paul looked surprised and disappointed. 

“That certainly settles the question ; my miniature had 
no such addition ; and yet I believe that sweet and pensive 
countenance to be the face of my own beloved mother, 
and of no one else.” 

John Effingham struggled to appear calm ; and, replacing 
the pictures, he took the key from the dressing-case, and, 
opening the bureau, he took out the secretaire. This he 
signed for Powis, who had the key, to open ; throwing 
himself into a chair, though everything was done mechan- 
ically, as if his mind and body had little or no connection 
with each other. 

“Some accidental resemblance has deceived you as to 
the miniature,” he said, while Paul was looking for the 
proper number among the letters of Mr. Monday. “No 
— no — that cannot be the picture of your mother. She 
left no child. Assheton, did you say, was the name of 
your father ? ” 


HOME AS FOUND. 


365 


“ Assheton — John Assheton — about that, at least, there 
can have been no mistake. This is the number at which 
we left off — will you, sir, or shall I, read ?” 

The other made a sign for Paul to read ; looking at the 
same time as if it were impossible for him to discharge that 
duty himself. 

“ This is a letter from the woman who appears to have 
been intrusted with the child, to the man Dowse,” said 
Paul, first glancing his eyes over the page ; “ it appears to 
be little else but gossip — ha! — what is this I see ?” 

John Effingham, raised himself in his chair, and he sat 
gazing at Paul as one gazes who expects some extraor- 
dinary development, though of what nature he knew 
not. 

“ This is a singular passage,” Paul continued — “so much 
so as to need elucidation. ‘ I have taken the child with 
me to get the picture from the jeweller who has mended 
the ring, and the little urchin knew it at a glance.’ ” 

“What is there remarkable in that ? Others besides our- 
selves have had pictures ; and this child knows its own bet- 
ter than, you.” 

“ Mr. Effingham, such a thing occurred to myself! It is 
one of those early events of which I still retain, have ever 
retained, a vivid recollection. Though little more than an 
infant at the time, well do I recollect to have been taken 
in this manner to a jeweller’s, and the delight I felt at re- 
covering my mother’s picture, that which is now lost, after 
it had not been seen for a month or two.” 

“ Paul Blunt — Powis — Assheton,” said John Effingham, 
speaking so hoarsely as to be nearly unintelligible, “re- 
main here a few minutes — I will rejoin you.” 

John Effingham arose, and, notwithstanding he rallied 
all his powers, it was with extreme difficulty he succeeded 
in reaching the door, steadily rejecting the offered assist- 
ance of Paul, who was at a loss what to think of so' much 
agitation in a man usually so self-possessed and tranquil. 
When out of the room John Effingham did better, and he 
proceeded to the library, followed by his own man, whom 
he' had ordered to accompany him with a light. 

“ Desire Captain Ducie to give me the favor of his com- 
pany for a moment,” he then said, motioning to the ser- 
vant to withdraw. “You will not be needed any longer.” 


3 66 


HOME AS FOUND. 


It was but a minute before Captain Ducie stood -before 
him. This gentleman was instantly struck with the pallid 
look and general agitation of the person he had come to 
meet, and he expressed an apprehension that he was sud- 
denly taken ill. But a motion of the hand forbade his 
touching the bell-cord, and he waited in silent wonder at 
the scene which he had been so unexpectedly called to 
witness. 

“A glass of that water, if you please, Captain Ducie,” 
said John Effingham, endeavoring to smile with gentleman- 
like courtesy as he made the request, though the effort 
caused his countenance to appear ghastly again. A little 
recovered by this beverage, he said more steadily : 

“You are the cousin of Powis, Captain Ducie.” 

“ We are sisters’ children, sir.” 

“ And your mother is ” 

“Lady Dunluce — a peeress in her own right.” 

“ But what — her family name ?” 

“ Her own family name has been sunk in that of my fa- 
ther, the Ducies claiming to be as old and as honorable a 
family as that from Which my mother inherits her rank. 
Indeed, the Dunluce barony has gone through so many 
names, by means of females, that I believe there is no in- 
tention to revive the original appellation of the family 
which was first summoned.” 

“ You mistake me — your mother — when she married — 
was ” 

“ Miss Warrender.” 

“ I thank you, sir, and will trouble you no longer,” re- 
turned John Effingham, rising, and struggling to make his 
manner second the courtesy of his words — “ I have trou- 
bled you abruptly — incoherently, I fear — your arm ” 

Captain Ducie stepped hastily forward, and was just in 
time to prevent the other from falling senseless on the 
floor, by receiving him in his own arms. 


HOME AS FOUND. 


3 6 7 


CHAPTER XXVII. 


“ What’s Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, 

That he should weep for her.” — Hamlet. 

The next morning, Paul and Eve were alone in that li- 
brary which had long been the scene of the confidential com- 
munications of the Effingham family. Eve had been weep- 
ing, nor were Paul’s eyes entirely free from the signs of his 
having given way to strong sensations. Still happiness 
beamed in the countenances of each, and the timid but af- 
fectionate glances with which our heroine returned the 
fond, admiring look of her lover, were anything but dis- 
trustful of their future felicity. Her hand was in his, and 
it was often raised to his lips, as they pursued the conver- 
sation. 

“ This is so wonderful,” exclaimed Eve, after one of the 
frequent musing pauses in which both indulged, “ that I 
can scarcely believe mysel f awake. That you, Blunt, Powis, 
Assheton, should, after all, prove an Effingham ! ” 

“ And that I, who have so long thought myself an orphan, 
should find a living father, and he a man like Mr. John 
Effingham ! ” 

“ I have long thought that something heavy lay at the 
honest heart of Cousin Jack — you will 'excuse me, Powis, 
but I shall need time to learn to call him by a name of 
greater respect.” 

“ Call him always so, love, for I am certain it would pain 
him to meet with any change in you. He is your Cousin 
Jack.” 

“ Nay, he may some day unexpectedly become my father 
too, as he has so wonderfully become yours,” rejoined Eve, 
glancing archly at the glowing face of the delighted young 
man ; “and then Cousin Jack might prove too familiar and 
disrespectful a term.” 

“ So much stronger does your claim to him appear than 
mine, that I think, when that blessed day shall arrive, Eve, 
it will convert him into my Cousin Jack, instead of your 


3 68 


HOME AS FOU1VV. 


father. But call him as you may, why do you still insist 
on calling me Powis ?” 

“ That name will ever be precious in my eyes ! You 
abridge me of my rights, in denying me a change of name. 
Half the young ladies of the country marry for the novelty 
of being called Mrs. Somebody else, instead of the Misses 
they were, while I am condemned to remain Eve Effingham 
for life.” 

“ If you object to the appellation, I can continue to call 
myself Powis. This has been done so long now as almost 
to legalize the act.” 

“ Indeed, no — you are an Effingham, and as an Effingham 
ought you to be known. What a happy lot is mine ! 
Spared even the pain of parting with my old friends, at the 
great occurrence of my life, and finding my married home 
the same as the home of my childhood ! ” 

“ I owe everything to you, Eve — name, happiness, and 
even a home.” 

“I know not that. Now that it is known that you are 
the great-grandson of Edward Effingham, I think your 
chance of possessing the Wigwam would be quite equal to 
my own, even were we to look different ways in quest of 
married happiness. An arrangement of that nature would 
not be difficult to make, as John Effingham might easily 
compensate a daughter for the loss of her house and lands 
by means of those money-yielding stocks and bonds, of 
which he possesses so many.” 

“ I view it differently. You were Mr. — my father’s heir 
— how strangely the word father sounds in unaccustomed 
ears ! — But you were my father’s chosen heir, and I shall 
owe to you, dearest, in addition to the treasures of your 
heart and faith, my fortune.” 

“ Are you so very certain of this, ingrate ?— Did not Mr. 
John Effingham — Cousin Jack— adopt you as his son even 
before he knew of the natural tie that actually exists be- 
tween you ? ” 

“True, for I perceive that you have been made ac- 
quainted with most of that which has passed. But I hope, 
that in telling you his own offer, Mr. — that my father did 
not forget to tell you of the terms on which it was ac- 
cepted ? ” 

“He did you ample justice, for he informed me that 


HOME AS FOUND. 


3 6 9 


you stipulated there should be no altering of wills,, but 
that the unworthy heir already chosen should still remain 
the heir.” 

“And to this Mr. ” 

“ Cousin Jack,” said Eve, laughing, for the laugh comes 
easy to the supremely happy. 

“To this Cousin Jack assented ?” 

“ Most true, again. The will would not have been al- 
tered, for your interests were already cared for.” 

“ And at the expense of yours, dearest Eve ! ” 

“It would have been at the expense of my better feel- 
ings, Paul, had it not been so. However, that will can 
never do either harm or good to any now.” 

“I trust it will remain unchanged, beloved, that I may 
owe as much to you as possible,” 

Eve lpoked kindly at her betrothed, blushed even 
deeper than the bloom which happiness had left on her 
cheek, and smiled like, one who knew more than she cared 
to express. 

“What secret meaning is concealed behind that look of 
portentous signification ?” 

“ It means, FJowis, that I have done a deed that is almost 
criminal. I have destroyed a will.” 

“Not my father’s ?” 

“ Even so — but it was done in his presence, and if not 
absolutely with his consent, with his knowledge. When 
he informed me oj your superior rights, I insisted on its 
being done at once, so, should any accident occur, you will 
be heir-at-law, as a matter of course. Cousin Jack affected 
reluctance, but I believe he slept more sweetly, for the 
consciousness that this act of justice had been done.” 

“ I fear he slept little as it was ; it was long past mid- 
night before I left him, and the agitation of his spirit was 
such as to appear awful in the eyes of a son ! ” 

“ And the promised explanation is to come, to renew his 
distress! Why make it at all ? is it not enough that we 
are certain that you are his child ? and for that, have we 
not the solemn assurance, the declaration of almost a dy- 
ing man ! ” 

“ There should be no shade left over my mother’s fame. 
Faults there have been, somewhere, but it is painful, oh ! 
how painful ! for a child to think evil of a mother.” 

24 


370 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“ On this head you are already assured. Your own pre- 
vious knowledge, and John Effingham’s distinct declara- 
tions, make your mother blameless.” 

“ Beyond question ; but this sacrifice must be made to 
my mother’s spirit. It is now nine ; the breakfast-bell 
will soon ring, and then we are promised the whole of the 
melancholy tale. Pray with me, Eve, that it may be such 
as will not wound the ear of a son ! ” 

Eve took the hand of Paul within both of hers, and 
kissed it with a sort of holy hope, that in its exhibition 
caused neither blush nor shame. Indeed, so bound to- 
gether were these young hearts, so ample and confiding 
had been the confessions of both, and so pure was then- 
love, that neither regarded such a manifestation of feel- 
ing differently from what an acknowledgment of a de- 
pendence on any other sacred principle would have been 
esteemed. The bell now summoned them to the breakfast 
table, and Eve, yielding to her sex’s timidity, desired Paul 
to precede her a few minutes, that the sanctity of their 
confidence might not be weakened by the observation of 
profane eyes. 

The meal was silent : the discovery of the previous 
night, which had been made known to all in the house, by 
the declarations of John Effingham as soon as he was re- 
stored to his senses, Captain Ducie having innocently col- 
lected those within hearing to his succor, causing a sort 
of moral suspense that weighed on the vivacity if not on 
the comforts of the whole party, the lovers alone excepted. 

As profound happiness is seldom talkative, the meal was 
a silent one, then ; and when it was ended, they who had 
no tie of blood with the parties most concerned with the 
revelations of the approaching interview, delicately sepa- 
rated, making employments and engagements that left the 
family at perfect liberty ; while those who had been pre- 
viously notified that their presence would be acceptable, 
silently repaired to the dressing-room of John Effingham. 
The latter party was composed of Mr. Effingham, Paul, 
and Eve, only. The first passed into his cousin’s bed- 
room, where he had a private conference that lasted half 
an hour. At the end of that time, the two others were 
summoned to join him. 

John Effingham was a strong-minded and a proud man, 


HOME AS FOUND. 


371 


his governing fault being the self-reliance that indisposed 
him to throw himself on a greater power for the support, 
guidance, and counsel that all need. To humiliation be- 
fore God, however, he was not unused, and of late years 
it had got to be frequent with him, and it was only in 
connection with his fellow-creatures that his repugnance 
to admitting even of an equality existed. He felt how 
much more just, intuitive, conscientious even, were his own 
views than those of mankind in general ; and he seldom 
deigned to consult with any as to the opinions he ought 
to entertain, or as to the conduct he ought to pursue. It 
is scarcely necessary to say that such a being was one of 
strong and engrossing passions, the impulses frequently 
proving too imperious for the affections, or even for prin- 
ciples. The scene that he was now compelled to go 
through, was consequently one of sore mortification and 
self-abasement ; and yet, feeling its justice no less than its 
necessity, and having made up his mind to discharge 
what had now become a duty, his very pride of character 
led him to do it manfully, and with no uncalled-for re- 
serves. It was a painful and humiliating task, notwith- 
standing ; and it required all the self-command, all the 
sense of right, and ail the clear perception of conse- 
quences, that one so quick to discriminate could not avoid 
perceiving, to enable him to go through it with the re- 
quired steadiness and connection. 

John Effingham received Paul and Eve, seated in an 
easy chair ; for, while he could not be said to be ill, it was 
evident that his very frame had been shaken by the events 
and emotions of the few preceding hours. He gave a hand 
to each, and drawing Eve affectionately to him, he im- 
printed a kiss on a cheek that was burning, though it 
paled and reddened in quick succession, the heralds of the 
tumultuous thoughts within. The look he gave Paul was 
kind and welcome, while a hectic spot glowed on each 
cheek, betraying that his presence excited pain as well as 
pleasure. A long pause succeeded this meeting, when 
John Effingham broke the silence. 

“ There can now be no manner of question, my dear 
Paul,” he said, smiling affectionately but sadly as he 
looked at the young man, “about your being my son. 
The letter written by John Assheton to your mother, after 


37 2 


HOME AS FOUND. 


the separation of your parents, would settle that impor- 
tant point, had not the names, and the other facts that 
have come to our knowledge, already convinced me of the 
precious truth ; for precious and very dear to me is the 
knowledge that I am the father of so worthy a child. You 
must prepare yourself to hear, things that it will not be 
pleasant for a son to listen ” 

“No, no, Cousin Jack — dear Cousin Jack !” cried Eve, 
throwing herself precipitately into her kinsman’s arms, 
“ we will hear nothing of the sort. It is sufficient that you 
are Paul’s father, and we wish to know no more — will 
hear no more.” 

“This is like yourself, Eve, but it will not answer what 
I conceive to be the dictates of duty. Paul had two par- 
ents, and not the slightest suspicion ought to rest on one 
of them, in order to spare the feelings of the other. In 
showing me this kindness you are treating Paul inconsid- 
erately.” 

“ I beg, dear sir, you will not think too much of me, but 
entirely consult your own judgment — your own sense of — 
in short, dear father, that you will consider yourself be- 
fore your son.” 

“ I thank you, my children ; what a word and what a 
novel sensation is this for me, Ned ! I feel all your kind- 
ness ; but if you would consult my peace of mind and 
wish me to regain my self-respect, you will allow me to 
disburden my soul of the weight that oppresses it. This 
is strong language ; but while I have no confessions of de- 
liberate criminality or of positive vice to make, I feel it to 
be hardly too strong for the facts. My tale will be very 
short, and I crave your patience, Ned, while I expose my 
former weakness to these young people.” Here John 
Effingham paused, as if to recollect himself ; then he pro- 
ceeded with a seriousness of manner that caused every 
syllable he uttered to tell on the ears of his listeners. “ It 
is well known to your father. Eve, though it will probably 
be new to you,” he said, “that I felt a passion for your 
sainted mother, such as few men ever experience for any 
of your sex. Your father and myself were suitors for her 
favor at the same time, though I can scarcely say, Ed- 
'ward, that any feeling of rivalry entered into the compe- 
tition.” 


HOME AS FOUND. 


373 


“You do me no more than justice, John, for if the ahec- 
tion of my beloved Eve could cause me grief, it was be- 
cause it brought you pain.” 

“I had the additional mortification of approving of the 
choice she made ; for, certainly, as respected her own happi- 
ness, your mother did more wisely in confiding it to the re- 
gulated, mild, and manly virtues of your father, than in 
placing her hopes on one as eccentric and violent as myself.” 

“This is injustice, John. You may have been positive, 
and a little stern at times, but never violent, and least of 
all with a woman.” 

“ Call it what you will, it unfitted me to make one so 
meek, geptle, and yet high-souled, as entirely happy as 
she deserved to be, and as you did make her, while she re- 
mained on earth. I had the courage to stay and learn 
that your father was accepted (though the marriage was 
deferred two years in consideration for my feelings), and 
then with a heart in which mortified pride, wounded love, 
a resentment that was aimed rather against myself than 
against your parents, 1 quitted home with a desperate de- 
termination never to rejoin my family again. . This resolu- 
tion I did not own to myself even, but it lurked in my in- 
tentions- unowned; festering like a mortal disease ; and it 
caused me, when I burst away from the scene of happiness 
of which I had been a compelled witness, to change my 
name, and to make several inconsistent and extravagant 
arrangements to abandon my native country even.” 

“ Poor John ! ” exclaimed his cousin, involuntarily ; 
“ this would have been a sad blot on our felicity had we 
known it ! ” 

“ I was certain of that, even when most writhing under 
the blow you had so unintentionally inflicted, Ned; but 
the passions are tyrannical and inconsistent masters. I 
took my mother’s name, changed my servant, and avoided 
those parts of the country where I was known. At this 
time I feared for my own reason, and the thought crossed 
my mind, that by making a sudden marriage I might sup- 
plant the old passion, which was so near destroying me, 
by some of that gentler affection which seemed to render 
you so blest, Edward.” 

“Nay, John, this was itself a temporary tottering of the 
reasoning faculties.” 


374 


HOME AS FOUND . 


“ It was simply the effect of passions over which reason 
had never been taught to exercise a sufficient influence. 
Chance brought me acquainted with Miss Warrender, in 
one of the Southern States, and she promised, as I fancied, 
to realize all my wild schemes of happiness and resentment. ” 

“ Resentment, John ? ” 

“ I fear I must confess it, Edward, though it were anger 
against myself. I first made Miss Warrender’s acquaint- 
ance as John Assheton, and some months had passed be- 
fore I determined to try the fearful experiment I have men- 
tioned. She was young, beautiful, well-born, virtuous, and 
good ; if she had a fault it was her high spirit, not high 
temper, but she was high-souled and proud.” 

“ Thank God for this ! ” burst from the inmost soul of 
Paul, with unrestrainable feeling. 

“You have little to apprehend, my son, on the subject of 
your mother’s character ; if not perfect, she was wanting in 
no womanly virtue, and might, nay ought to have made 
any reasonable man happy. My offer was accepted, for I 
found her heart disengaged. Miss Warrender was not af- 
fluent, and in addition to the other unjustifiable motives 
that influenced me, I thought there would be a satisfaction 
in believing that I had been chosen for myself rather than 
for my wealth. Indeed, I had got to be distrustful and 
ungenerous, and then I disliked the confession of the weak- 
ness that had induced me to change my name. The sim- 
ple, I might almost say loose laws of this country, on the 
subject of marriage, removed all necessity for explanations, 
there being no bans or license necessary, and the Christian 
name only being used in the ceremony. We were married, 
therefore, but I was not so unmindful of the rights of others 
as to neglect to procure a certificate, under a promise of 
secrecy, in my own name. By going to the place where the 
ceremony was performed, you will also find the marriage 
of John Effingham and Mildred Warrender duly registered 
in the books of the church to which the officiating clergy- 
man belonged. So far I did what justice required, though, 
with a motiveless infatuation for which I can now hardly 
account — which cannot be accounted for except by ascrib- 
ing it to the inconsistent cruelty of passion — I concealed 
my real name from her, with whom there should have been 
no concealment. I fancied, I tried to fancy I was no impos- 


HOME AS FOUND. 


375 


tor, as I was of the family I represented myself to be, by 
the mother’s side ; and I wished to believe that my peace 
would easily be made when I avowed myself to be the man 
I really was. I had found Miss Warrender and her sister 
living with a well-intentioned but weak aunt, and with no 
male relative to make those inquiries which would so natur- 
ally have suggested themselves to persons of ordinary 
worldly prudence. It is true, I had become known to them 
under favorable circumstances, and they had good reason 
to believe me an Assheton from some accidental evidence 
that I possessed, which unanswerably proved my affinity to 
that family, without betraying my true name. But there is 
so little distrust in this country, that by keeping at a dis- 
tance from the places in which I was personally known, a 
life might have passed without exposure.” 

“ This was all wrong, dear Cousin Jack,” said Eve, taking 
his hand and affectionately kissing it, while her face kin- 
dled with a sense of her sex’s rights, “ and I should be un- 
faithful to my womanhood were I to say otherwise. You 
had entered into the most solemn of all human contracts, 
and evil is the omen when such an engagement is veiled by 
any untruth. But, still, one would think you might have 
been happy with a virtuous and affectionate wife ! ” 

“Alas! it is but a hopeless experiment to marry one, 
while the heart is still yearning toward another. Confi- 
dence came too late ; for, discovering my unhappiness, 
Mildred extorted a tardy confession from me ; a confession 
of all but the concealment of the true name ; and justly 
wounded at the deception of which she had been the dupe, 
and yielding to the impulses of a high and generous spirit, 
she announced to me that she was unwilling to continue 
the, wife of any man on such terms. We parted, and* I 
hastened into the Southwestern States, where I passed 
the next twelvemonth in travelling, hurrying from place 
to place, in the vain hope of obtaining peace of mind. I 
plunged into the prairies, and most of the time mentioned 
wasjost to me as respects the world, in the company of 
hunters and trappers.” 

“ This, then, explains your knowledge of that section of 
the country,” exclaimed Mr. Effingham, “forwhich I have 
never been able to account! We thought you among your 
old friends in Carolina all that time.” 


37 6 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“ No one knew where I had secreted myself, for I passed 
under another feigned name, and had no servant, even. I 
had, however, sent an address to Mildred where a letter 
would find me ; for I had begun to feel a sincere affection 
for her, though it might not have amounted to passion, 
and looked forward to being reunited when her wounded 
feelings had time to regain their tranquillity. The obliga- 
tions of wedlock are too serious to be lightly thrown aside, 
and I felt persuaded that neither of us would be satisfied 
in the end without discharging the duties of the state into 
which we had entered.” 

“ And why did you not hasten to your poor wife, Cousin 
Jack,” Eve innocently demanded, “as soon as you re- 
turned to the settlements ? ” 

“ Alas ! my dear girl, I found letters at St. Louis an- 
nouncing her death. Nothing was said of any child, nor 
did I in the least suspect that I was about to become a 
father. When Mildred died, I thought all the ties, all the 
obligations, all the traces of my ill-judged marriage were 
extinct ; and the course taken by her relations, of whom, 
in this country, there remained very few, left me no in- 
clination to proclaim it. By observing silence, I continued 
to pass as a bachelor, of course ; though had there been 
any apparent reason for avowing what had occurred, I 
think no one who knows me can suppose I would have 
shrunk from doing so.” 

“ May I inquire, my dear sir,” Paul asked, with a timidity 
of manner that betrayed how tenderly he felt it necessary 
to touch on the subject at all — “may I inquire, my dear 
sir, what course was taken by my mother’s relatives ? ” 

“ I never knew Mr. Warrender, my wife’s brother, but 
he had the reputation of being a haughty and exacting 
man. His letters were not friendly ; scarcely tolerable ; 
for he affected to believe I had given a false address at the 
West, when I was residing in the Middle States, and he 
threw out hints that to me were then inexplicable, but 
which the letters left with me by Paul have sufficiently 
explained. I thought him cruel and unfeeling at the 
time, but he had. an excuse for his conduct.” 

“Which was, sir ? ” Paul eagerly inquired. . 

“ I perceive by the letters you have given me, my son, 
that your mother’s family had imbibed the opinion that I 


HOME AS FOUND. 


377 


was John Assheton, of Lancaster, a man of singular hu- 
mors, who had made an unfortunate marriage in Spain, 
and whose wife, I believe, is still living in Paris, though 
lost to herself and her friends. My kinsman lived retired, 
and never recovered the blow. As he was one of the only 
persons of the name who could have married your mother, 
her relatives appear to have taken up the idea that he had 
been guilty of bigamy, and, of course, that Paul was ille- 
gitimate. Mr. Warrender, by his letters, appears even to 
have had an interview with this person, and, on mention- 
ing his wife, was rudely repulsed from the house. It was 
a proud family, and Mildred being dead, the concealment 
of the birth of her child was resorted to, as a means of 
averting a fancied disgrace. As for myself, I call the all- 
seeing eye of God to witness, that the thought of my being 
a parent never crossed my mind until I learned that a 
John Assheton was the father of Paul, and that the minia- 
ture of Mildred Warrender, that I received at the period 
of our engagement, was the likeness of his mother. The 
simple declaration of Captain Ducie concerning the family 
name of his mother removed all doubt.” 

“ But, Cousin Jack, did not the mention of Lady Dun- 
luce, of the Ducies, and of Paul’s connections, excite curi- 
osity ? ” 

“ Concerning what, dear ? I could have no curiosity 
about a child of whose existence I was ignorant. I did 
know that the Warrenders had pretensions to both rank 
and fortune in England, but never heard the title, and cared 
nothing about money that would not, probably, be Mil- 
dred’s. Of General Ducie I never even heard, as he mar- 
ried after my separation ; and subsequently to the receipt 
of my brother-in-law’s letters, I wished to forget the exist- 
ence of the family. I went to Europe, and remained 
abroad seven years, and as this was at a time when the 
continent was closed against the English, I was not in a 
way to hear anything on the subject. On my return, my 
wife’s aunt was dead ; the last of my wife’s brothers was 
dead ; her sister must then have been Mrs. Ducie ; no one 
mentioned the Warrenders, all traces of whom were nearly 
lost in this country, and to me the subject was too painful 
to be either sought or dwelt on. It is a curious fact, that, 
in 1829, during our late visit Jo the old world, I ascended 


378 


HOME AS FOUND. 


the Nile with General Ducie for a travelling companion. 
We met at Alexandria, and went to the cataracts and re- 
turned in company. He knew me as John Effingham, an 
American traveller of fortune, if of no particular merit, 
and I knew him as an agreeable English general officer. 
He had the reserve of an Englishman of rank, and seldom 
spoke of his family, and it was only on our return that I 
found he had letters from his wife, Lady Dunluce ; but 
little did I dream that Lady Dunluce was Mabel Warren- 
der. How often are we on the very verge of important in- 
formation, and yet live on in ignorance and obscurity ! 
The Ducies appear finally to have arrived at the opinion 
that the marriage was legal, and that no reproach rests on 
the birth of Paul, by the inquiries made concerning the 
eccentric .John Assheton.” 

“ They fancied, in common with my uncle Warrender, for 
a long time that the John Assheton whom you have men- 
tioned, sir,” said Paul, “was my father. But some acci- 
dental information, at a late day, convinced them of their 
error, and then they naturally enough supposed that it was 
the only other John Assheton that could be heard of, who 
passes, and probably with sufficient reason, for a bachelor. 
This latter gentleman I have myself always supposed to be 
my father, though he has treated two or three letters I have 
written to him with the indifference with which one would 
be apt to treat the pretensions of an impostor. Pride has 
prevented me from attempting to renew the correspondence 
lately.” 

“ It is John Assheton, of Bristol, my mother’s brother’s 
son, as inveterate a bachelor as is to be found in the 
Union ! ” said John Effingham, smiling in spite of the grave 
subject and deep emotions that had so lately been upper- 
most in his thoughts. “ He must have supposed your let- 
ters were an attempt at mystification on the part of some 
of his jocular associates, and I am surprised that he thought 
it necessary to answer them at all.” 

“ He did answer but one, and that reply certainly had 
something of the character you suggest, sir. I freely for- 
give him, now I understand the truth, though his apparent 
contempt gave me many a bitter pang at the time. I saw 
Mr. Assheton once in public, and observed him well, for, 
strange as it is, I have been thought to resemble him.” 


HOME AS FOUND. 


379 


“Why strange? Jack Assheton and myself have,, or 
rather had, a strong family likeness to each other, and, 
though the thought is new to me, I can now easily trace 
this'resemblance to myself. It is rather an Assheton than 
an Effingham look, though the latter is not wanting.” 

“These explanations are very clear and satisfactory,” 
observed Mr. Effingham, “and leave little doubt that Paul 
is the child of John Effingham and Mildred Warrender ; 
but they would be beyond all cavil, were the infancy of 
the boy placed in an equally plain point of view, and 
could the reasons be known why the Warrenders aban- 
doned him to the care of those who yielded him up to 
Mr. Powis.” 

“ I see but little obscurity in that,” returned John Effing- 
ham. “ Paul is unquestionably the child referred to in the 
papers left by poor Monday, to the care of whose mother 
he was intrusted, until, in his fourth year, she yielded him 
to Mr. Powis, to get rid of trouble and expense, while she 
kept the annuity granted by Lady Dunluce. The names 
appear in the concluding letters ; and had we read the lat- 
ter through at first, we should earlier have arrived at the 
same conclusion. Could we find the man called Dowse, 
who appears to- have instigated the fraud, and who married 
Mrs. Monday, the whole thing would be explained.” 

“ Of this I am aware,” said Paul, for he and John Effing- 
ham had perused the remainder of the Monday papers 
together, after the fainting fit of the latter, as soon as his 
strength would admit ; “and Captain Truck is now search- 
ing for an old passenger of his, who I think will furnish 
the clue. Should we get this evidence, it would settle all 
legal questions.” 

“ Such questions will never be raised,” said John Effing- 
ham, holding out his hand affectionately to his son ; “you 
possess the marriage certificate given to your mother, and 
I avow myself to have been the person therein styled John 
Assheton. This fact I have endorsed on the back of the 
certificate ; while here is another given to me in my proper 
name, with the endorsement made by the clergyman that 
I passed by another name at the ceremony.” 

“ Such a man, Cousin Jack, was unworthy of his cloth ! ” 
said. Eve with energy. 

“ I do not think so, my child. He was innocent of the 


3Sq 


HOME AS FOUND . 


original deception ; this certificate was given after the death 
of my wife, and might do good, whereas it could do no 
harm. The clergyman in question is now a bishop, and is 
still living. He may give evidence, if necessary, ta the 
legality of the marriage.” 

“And the clergyman by whom I was baptized is also 
alive,” cried Paul, “and has never lost sight of me. He 
was, in part, in the confidence of my mother’s family, and 
even after I was adopted by Mr. Powis he kept me in view 
as one of his little Christians, as he termed me. It was no 
less a person than Dr. .” 

“ This alone would make out the connection and iden- 
tity,” said Mr. Effingham, “ without the aid of the Monday 
witnesses. The whole obscurity has arisen from John’s 
change of name, and his ignorance of the fact that his wife 
had a child. The Ducies appear to have had plausible 
reasons, too, for distrusting the legality of the marriage ; 
but all is now clear, and as a large estate is concerned, we 
will take care that no further obscurity shall rest over the 
affair.” 

“The part connected with the estate is already secured,” 
said John Effingham, looking at Eve with a smile. “ An 
American can always make a will, and one that contains 
but a single bequest is soon written. Mine is executed, 
and Paul Effingham, my son by my marriage with Mildred 
Warrender, and lately known in the United States Navy 
as Paul Powis, is duly declared my heir. This will suffice 
for all legal purposes, though we shall have large draughts 
of gossip to swallow.” 

“ Cousin Jack ! ” 

“ Daughter Eve ! ” 

“ Who has given cause for it ? ” 

“ He who commenced one of the most sacred of his 
earthly duties with an unjustifiable deception. The wisest 
way to meet it will be to make our avowals of the relation- 
ship as open as possible.” 

“ I see no necessity, John, of entering into details,” said- 
Mr. Effingham ; “you were married young, and lost your 
wife within a year of your marriage. She was a Miss War- 
render, and the sister of Lady Dunluce ; Paul and Ducie 
are declared cousins, and the former proves to be your son, 
of whose existence you were ignorant. No one will pre- 


HOME AS FOUND. 


38i 

same to question any of us, and it really strikes me that 
all rational people ought to be satisfied with this simple 
account of the matter.” 

“Father!” exclaimed Eve, with her pretty little hands 
raised in the attitude of surprise, “ in what capital even, 
in what part of the world, would such a naked account ap- 
pease curiosity ? Much less will it suffice here, where 
every human being, gentle or simple, learned or ignorant, 
refined or vulgar, fancies himself a constitutional judge of 
all the acts of all his fellow-creatures ! ” 

“We have at least the consolation of knowing that no 
revelations will make the matter any worse or any better,” 
said Paul, “ as the gossips would tell their own tale, in 
every case, though its falsehood were as apparent as the 
noon-day sun. A gossip is essentially a liar, and truth is 
the last ingredient that is deemed necessary to his other 
qualifications ; indeed, a well-authenticated fact is a death- 
blow to a gossip. I hope, my dear sir, you will say no 
more than that I am your son, a circumstance much too 
precious to me to be omitted.” 

John Effingham looked affectionately at the noble young 
man, whom he had so long esteemed and admired ; and 
the tears forced themselves to his eyes as he felt the su- 
preme happiness that can alone gladden a parent’s heart. 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 

“For my part, I care not ; I say little ; but when the time comes, there 
shall be smiles.” — N ym. 

Although Paul Effingham was right, and Eve Effingham 
was also right, in their opinions of the art of gossiping, 
they both forgot one qualifying circumstance, that, arising 
from different causes, produces the same effect equally in 
a capital and in a province. In the first, marvels form a 
nine days’ wonder from the hurry of events ; in the latter, 
from the hurry of talking. When it was announced in 
Templeton that Mr. John Effingham had discovered a son 
in Mr. Powis, as that son had conjectured, everything but 


3 82 


HOME AS FOUND. 


the truth was rumored and believed in connection with the 
circumstance. Of course it excited a good deal of natural 
and justifiable curiosity and surprise in the trained and in- 
telligent, for John Effingham had passed for a confirmed 
bachelor ; but they were generally content to suffer a fam- 
ily to have feelings and incidents that were not to be pa- 
raded before a neighborhood. Having some notions them- 
selves of the delicacy and sanctity of the domestic affections, 
they were willing to respect the same sentiments in others. 
But these few excepted, the village was in a tumult of sur- 
mises, reports, contradictions, confirmations, rebutters, 
and.sur-rebutters, for a fortnight. Several village elegants, 
whose notions of life were obtained in the valley in which 
they were born, and who had turned up their noses at the 
quiet, reserved, gentlemanlike Paul, because he did not 
happen to suit their tastes, were disposed to resent his 
claim to be his father’s son, as if it were an injustice done 
to their rights ; such commentators on men and things 
uniformly bringing everything down to the standard of 
self. Then the approaching marriages at the Wigwam had 
to run the gauntlet, not only of village and county criti- 
cisms, but that of the mighty Emporium itself, as it is the 
fashion to call the confused and tasteless collection of flar- 
ing red brick houses, marten-box churches, and colossal 
taverns, that stands on the island of Manhattan ; the dis- 
cussion of marriages being a topic of never-ending interest 
in that well-regulated social organization, after the sub- 
jects of dollars, lots, and wines, have been duly exhausted. 
Sir George Templemore was transformed into the Honor- 
able Lord George Templemore, and Paul’s relationship to 
Lady Dunluce was converted, as usual, into his being the 
heir-apparent of a duchv of that name ; Eve’s preference 
for a nobleman, as a matter of course, to the aristocratical 
tastes imbibed during a residence in foreign countries ; 
Eve, the intellectual, feminine, instructed Eve, whose Eu- 
ropean associations, while they had taught her to prize the 
refinement, grace, retenue , and tone of an advanced condi- 
tion of society, had also taught her to despise its mere 
covering and glitter ! But as there is no protection against 
falsehood, so is there no reasoning with ignorance. 

A sacred few, at the head of whom were Mr. Steadfast 
Dodge and Mrs. Widow-Bewitched Abbott, treated the mat- 


HOME AS FOUND . 383 

ter as one of greater gravity, and as possessing an engross- 
ing interest for the entire community. 

“ For my part, Mr. Dodge,” said Mrs. Abbott, in one of 
their frequent conferences, about a fortnight after the 
eclair cisse merit of the last chapter, “ I do not believe that 
Paul Powis is Paul Effingham at all. You say that you 
knew him by the name of Blunt, when he was a younger 
man ? ” 

“ Certainly, ma’am. He passed universally by that name 
formerly, and it may be considered as at least extraordin- 
ary that he should have had so many aliases. The truth 
of the matter is, Mrs. Abbott, if truth could be come at, 
which I always contend is very difficult in the present 
state of the world ” 

“You never said a juster thing, Mr. Dodge!” inter- 
rupted the lady, feelings impetuous as her’s seldom wait- 
ing for the completion of a sentence, “ I never can get 
hold of the truth of anything now ; you may remember 
you insinuated that Mr. John Effingham himself was to be 
married to Eve, and, lo and behold ! it turns out to be his 
son ! ” - 

“The lady may have changed her mind, Mrs. Abbott; 
she gets the same estate with a younger man.” 

“ She’s monstrous disagreeable, and Pm sure it will be a 
relief to the whole village when she is married, let it be to 
the father or to the Son. Now, do you know, Mr. Dodge, 
I have been in a desperate taking about one thing, and 
that is to find that, bony fie-dy, the two old Effinghams are 
not actually brothers ! I knew that they called each other 
Cousin Jack and Cousin Ned, and that Eve affected to call 
her uncle Cousin Jack, but then she has so many affecta- 
tions, and the old people are so foreign, that I looked 
upon all that as mere pretence ; I said to myself a neigh- 
borhood ought to know better about a man’s family than 
he can know himself, and the neighborhood all declared 
they were brothers ; and yet it turns out, after all, that 
they are only cousins ! ” 

“ Yes, I do believe that, for once, the family was right 
in that matter, and the public mistaken.” 

“ Well, I should like to know who has a better right to 
be mistaken than the public, Mr. Dodge. This is a free 
country, and if the people can’t sometimes be wrong, what 


3§4 


HOME AS FOUND. 


is the mighty use of their freedom ? We are all sinful 
wretches, at the best, and it is vain to look for anything 
but vice from sinners.” 

“ Nay, my dear Mrs. Abbott, you are too hard on your- 
self, for everybody allows that you are as exemplary as 
you are devoted to your religious duties.” 

“ Oh ! I was not speaking particularly of myself, sir ; I 
am no egotist in such things, and wish to leave my own 
imperfections to the charity of my friends and neighbors. 
But, do you think, Mr. Dodge, that a marriage between 
Paul Effingham, for so I suppose he must be called, and 
Eve Effingham, will be legal ? Can’t it be set aside, and 
if that should be the case, wouldn’t the fortune go to the 
public ? ” 

“ It ought to be so, my dear ma’am, and I trust the day 
is not distant when it will be so. The people are begin- 
ning to understand their rights, and another century will 
not pass before they will enforce them by the necessary 
penal statutes. We have got matters so now, that a man 
can no longer indulge in the aristocratic and selfish desire 
to make a will, and, take my word for it, we shall not stop 
until we bring everything to the proper standard.” 

The reader is not to suppose from his language that Mr. 
Dodge was an agrarian, or that he looked forward to a 
division of property at some future day ; for, possessing 
in his own person already more than what could possibly 
fall to an individual share, he had not the smallest desire 
to lessen its amount by a general division. In point of 
fact he did not know his own meaning, except as he felt 
envy of all above him, in which, in truth, was to be found 
the whole secret of his principles, his impulses, and his 
doctrines. Anything that would pull down those whom 
education, habits, fortune, or tastes, had placed in posi- 
tions more conspicuous than his own, was, in his eyes, 
reasonable and just — as anything that would serve him, in 
person, the same ill turn, would have been tyranny and 
oppression. The institutions of America, like everything 
human, have their bad as well as their good side ; and 
while we firmly believe in the relative superiority of the 
latter, as compared with other systems, we should fail of 
accomplishing the end set before us in this work, did we 
not exhibit, in strong colors, one of the most prominent 


HOME AS FOUND. 


385 

consequences that has attended the entire destruction of 
factitious personal distinctions in the country, which has 
certainly aided in bringing out in bolder relief than com- 
mon, the prevalent disposition in man to covet that which 
is the possession of another, and to decry merits that are 
unattainable. 

‘-Well, I rejoice to hear this,” returned Mrs. Abbott, 
whose principles were of the same loose school as those of 
her companion, “for I think no one should have rights 
but those who have experienced religion, if you would 
keep vital religion in a country. There goes that old sea- 
lion, Truck, and his fishing associate, the commodore, with 
their lines and poles, as usual, Mr. Dodge ; I beg you will 
call to them, for I long to hear what the first can have to 
say about his beloved Effinghams, now.” 

Mr. Dodge complied, and the navigator of the ocean 
and the navigator of the lake were soon seated in Mrs. 
Abbott’s little parlor, which might be styled the focus of 
gossip, near those who were so lately its sole occupants. 

“ This is wonderful news, gentlemen,” commenced Mrs. 
Abbott, as soon as the bustle of the entrance had subsided. 
“ Mr. Powis is Mr. Effingham, and it seems that Miss Ef- 
fingham is to -become Mrs. Effingham. Miracles will 
never gease, and I look upon this as one of the most sur- 
prising of my time.” 

“Just so, ma’am,” said the commodore, winking his eye, 
and giving the usual flourish with a hand ; “ your time 
has not been that of a day neither, and Mr. Powis has rea- 
son to rejoice that he is the hero of such a history. For 
my part, I could not have been more astonished were I to 
bring up the sogdollager with a trout-hook, having a 
cheese-paring for the bait.” 

“I understand,” continued the lady, “that there are 
doubts after all, whether this miracle be really a true mira- 
cle. It is hinted that Mr. Powis is neither J^r. Effingham 
nor Mr. Powis, but that he is actually a Mr. Blunt. Do you 
happen to know anything of the matter. Captain Truck ?” 

“ I have been introduced to him, ma’am, by all three 
names, and I consider him an acquaintance in each char- 
acter. I can assure you, moreover, that he is A No. 1, on 
whichever tack you take him ; a man who carries a weather 
helm in the midst of his enemies.” 

26 


3 86 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“ Well v I do not consider it a very great recommendation 
for one to have enemies, at all. Now, I dare say, Mr. 
Dodge, you have not an enemy on earth ? ” 

“ I should be sorry to think that I had, Mrs. Abbott. I 
am every man’s friend, particularly the poor man’s friend, 
and I should suppose that every man ought to be my friend. 
I hold the whole human family to be brethren, and that 
they ought to live together as such.” 

“Very true, sir; quite true — we are all sinners, and 
ought to look favorably on each other’s failings. It is no 
business of mine — I say it is no business of ours, Mr. 
Dodge, who Miss Eve Effingham marries ; but were she 
my daughter, I do think I should not like her to have 
three family names, and to keep her own in the bargain ! ” 

“ The Effinghams hold their heads very much up, 
though it is not easy to see why ; but so they do, and 
the more names the better, perhaps, for such people,” re- 
turned the editor. “For my part, I treat them with con- 
descension, just as I do everybody else ; for it is a rule 
with me, Captain Truck, to make use of the same deport- 
ment to a king on his .throne as I would to a beggar in 
the street.” 

“ Merely to show that you do not feel yourself to be 
above your betters. We have many such philosophers in 
this country.” 

“Just so,” said the commodore. 

“I wish I knew,” resumed Mrs. Abbott; for there ex- 
isted in her head, as well as in that of Mr. Dodge, such a 
total confusion on the subject of deportment, that neither 
saw nor felt the cool sarcasm of the old, sailor ; “ I wish I 
knew, now, whether Eve Effingham has really been regen- 
erated ! What is your opinion, commodore ? ” 

“ Re-what, ma’am,” said the commodore, wha was not 
conscious of ever having heard the word before ; for, in 
his Sabbaths on the water, where he often worshipped 
God devoutly in his heart, the language of the professedly 
pious was never heard ; “ I can only say she is as pretty a 
skiff as floats, but I can tell you nothing about resuscita- 
tion — indeed, I never heard of her having been drowned.” 

“ Ah, Mrs. Abbott, the very best friends of the Effing- 
hams will not maintain that they are pious. I do not wish 
to be invidious, or to say unneighborly things ; but were 


HOME AS FOUND. 


387 


I upon oath, I could testify to a great many things, which 
would unqualifiedly show that none of them have ever ex- 
perienced.” 

“ Now, Mr. Dodge, you know how much I dislike 
scandal,” the widow-bewitched cried, affectedly, “ and I 
cannot tolerate such a sweeping charge. I insist on the 
proofs of what you say, in which, no doubt, these gentle- 
men will join me.” 

By proofs, Mrs. Abbott meant allegations. 

“ Well, ma’am, since you insist on my proving what I 
have said, you shall not be disappointed. In the first 
place, then, they read their family prayers out of a book.” 

“ Aye, aye,” put in the captain ; “ but that merely shows 
they have some education ; it is done everywhere.” 

“ Your pardon, sir ; no people but the Catholics and the 
church people commit this impiety. The idea of reading 
to the Deity, Mrs. Abbott, is particularly shocking to a 
pious soul.” 

“ As if the Lord stood in need of letters ! That is very 
bad, I allow ; for at family prayers a form becomes mock- 
ery.” 

“ Yes, ma’am ; but what do you think of cards ? ” 

“Cards!” exclaimed Mrs. Abbott, holding up her 
pious hands in holy horror. 

“ Even so ; foul pasteboard, marked with kings and 
queens,” said the captain. “Why, this is worse than a 
common sin, being. unqualifiedly anti-republican.” 

“ I confess I did not expect fhis ! I had heard that Eve 
Effingham was guilty of indiscretions, but I did not think 
she was so lost to virtue as to touch a card. Oh ! Eve 
Effingham, Eve Effingham, for what is your poor diseased 
soul destined ! ” 

“She dances, too, I suppose you know that,” continued 
Mr. Dodge, who, finding his popularity a little on the 
wane, had joined the meeting himself, a few weeks before, 
and who did not fail to manifest the zeal of a new convert. 

“ Dances ! ” repeated Mrs. Abbott, in holy horror. 

“ Real fi diddle de di ! ” echoed Captain Truck. 

“Just so,” put in the commodore ; “I have seen it with 
my own eyes. But, Mrs. Abbott, I feel bound to tell you 
that your own daughter ” 

“ Biansy-Alzumy-Anne !” exclaimed the mother, in alarm. 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“Just so; my-aunty-all-suit-me-Anne, if that is her 
name. Do you know, ma’am, that I have seen your own 
blessed daughter, my-aunty-Anne, do a worse thing even 
than dancing ? ” 

“ Commodore, you are awful ! What could a child of 
mine do that is worse than dancing? ” 

‘‘Why, ma’am, if you will hear all, it is my duty to tell 
you. I saw aunty-Anne (the commodore was really igno- 
rant of the girl’s name) jump a skipping-rope yesterday 
morning, between the hours of seven and eight As I 
hope ever t to see the sogdollager again, ma’am, I did ! ” 

“ And do you call this as bad as dancing ? ” 

“Much worse, ma’am, to my notion. It is jumping 
about without music, and without any grace, either, par- 
ticularly as it was performed by my-aunty-Anne.” 

“ You are given to light jokes. Jumping the skipping- 
rope is not forbidden in the Bible.” 

“Just so ; nor is dancing, if I know anything about it ; 
nor, for that matter, cards.” 

“ But waste of time is ; a sinful waste of time ; and evil 
passions, and all unrighteousness.” 

“Just so. My-aunty-Anne was going to the pump for 
water — I dare say you sent her — and she was misspending 
her time ; and as for evil passions, she did not enjoy the 
hop until she and your neighbor’s daughter had pulled each 
other’s hair for the rope, as if they had been two she-dragons. 
Take my word for it, ma’am, it wanted for nothing to make 
it sin of the purest water, but a cracked fiddle.” 

While the commodore was holding Mrs. Abbott at bay 
in this manner, Captain Truck, who had given him a wink 
to that effect, was employed in playing off a practical joke 
at the expense of the widow. It was one of the standing 
amusements of these worthies, who had got to be sworn 
friends and constant associates, after they had caught as 
many fish as they wished, to retire to the favorite spring, 
light, the one his cigar, the other his pipe, mix their grog, 
and then relieve their ennui, when tired of discussing men 
and things, by playing cards on a particular stump. Now, 
it happened that the captain had the identical pack which 
had been used on all such occasions in his pocket, as was 
evident in the fact that the cards were nearly as distinctly 
marked on their backs as on their faces. These cards he 


HOME AS FOUND. 


3 8 9 


showed secretly to his companion, and when the attention 
of Mrs. Abbott was altogether engaged in expecting- the 
terrible announcement of her daughter’s errors, the captain 
slipped them, kings, queens, and knaves, high, low, jack, 
and the game, without regard to rank, into the lady’s work- 
basket. As soon as this feat was successfully performed, 
a sign was given to the commodore that the conspiracy was 
effected, and that disputant in theology gradually began to 
give ground, while he continued to maintain that jumping 
the rope was a sin, though it might be one of a nominal 
class. There is little doubt, had he possessed a smattering 
of phrases, a greater command of biblical learning, and 
more zeal, that the fisherman might have established a new 
shade of the Christian faith ; for, while mankind still per- 
severe in disregarding the plainest mandates of God, as 
respects humility, the charities, and obedience, nothing 
seems to afford them more delight than to add to the cata- 
logue of the offences against his divine supremacy. It was 
perhaps lucky for the commodore, who was capital at cast- 
ing a pickerel line, but who usually settled his polemics 
with the fist when hard pushed, that Captain Truck found 
leisure to come to the rescue. 

“ I’m amazed, ma’am,” said the honest packet-master, 
“that a woman of your sanctity should deny that jumping 
the rope is a sin, for I hold that point to have been settled 
by all our people, these fifty years. You will admit that 
the rope cannot be well jumped without levity.” 

“Levity, Captain Truck! I hope you do not insinuate 
that a daughter of mine discovers levity ?” 

“Certainly, ma’am; she is called the best rope-jumper 
in the village, I hear ; and levity, or lightness of carriage, 
is the great requisite for skill in the art. Then there are 
‘ vain repetitions ’ in doing the same thing over and over so 
often, and ‘vain repetitions’ are forbidden even in our 
prayers. I can call both father and mother to testify to that 
fact.” 

“ Well, this is news to me ! I must speak to the minister 
about it.” 

“ Of the two, the skipping-rope is rather more sinful 
than dancing, for the music makes the latter easy ; whereas, 
one has to force the spirit to enter into the other. Commo- 
dore, our hour has come, and we must make sail. May I 


390 


HOME AS FOUND. 


ask the favor, Mrs. Abbott, of a bit of thread to fasten this 
hook afresh ? ” 

The widow-bewitched turned to her basket, and raising 
a piece of calico to look for the thread, “ high, low, jack, 
and the game ” stared her in the face. When she bent her 
eyes toward her guests, she perceived all three gazing at 
the cards, with as much apparent surprise and curiosity as 
if two of them knew nothing of their history. 

“ Awful !” exclaimed Mrs. Abbott, shaking both hands 
— ■“ awful — awful — awful! The powers of darkness have 
been at work here ! ” 

“ They seem to have been pretty 'much occupied, too,” 
observed the captain, “ for a better thumbed pack I never 
yet found in the forecastle of a ship.” 

“ Awful — awful — awful !< This is equal to the forty days 
in the wilderness, Mr. Dodge.” 

“ It is a trying cross, ma’am.” 

“ To my notion now,” said the captain, “those cards 
are not worse than the skipping-rope, though I allow that 
they might have been cleaner.” 

But Mrs. Abbott was not disposed to view the matter so 
lightly. She saw the hand of the devil in the affair, and 
fancied it was a new trial offered to her widowed con- 
dition. 

“Are these actually cards!” she cried, like one who 
distrusted the evidence of her senses. 

“Just so, ma’am,” kindly answered the commodore; 
“this is the ace of spades, a famous fellow to hold when 
you have the lead ; and this is the Jack, which counts one, 
you know, when spades are trumps. I never saw a more 
thorough-working pack in my life.” 

“ Or a more thoroughly worked pack,” added the cap- 
tain, in a condoling manner. “ Well, we are not all per- 
fect, and I hope Mrs. Abbott will cheer up and look at 
this matter in a gayer point of view. For myself, I hold 
that a skipping-rope is worse than the Jack of spades, 
Sundays or week days. Commodore, we shall see no pick- 
erel to-day, unless we tear ourselves froni this good com- 
pany.” 

Here the two wags took their leave, and retreated to the 
skiff ; the captain, who foresaw an occasion to use them, 
considerately offering to relieve Mrs. Abbott from the 


HOME AS FOUND. 


391 


presence of the odious cards, intimating that he would 
conscientiously see them fairly sunk in the deepest part 
of the lake. 

When the two worthies were at a reasonable distance 
from the^shore, the commodore suddenly ceased rowing, 
made a flourish with his hand,, and incontinently began to 
laugh, as if his mirth had suddenly broken through all re- 
straint. Captain Truck, who had been lighting a cigar, 
commenced smoking, and, seldom indulging in boisterous 
merriment, he responded with his eyes, shaking his head 
from- time to time, with great satisfaction, as thoughts 
more ludicrous than common came over his imagination. 

“ Harkee, commodore,” he said, blowing the smoke up- 
ward and watching it with his eye until it floated away in 
a little cloud, “neither of us is a chicken. You have 
studied life on the fresh water, and I have studied life on 
the salt. I do not say which produces the best scholars, 
but I know that both make better Christians than the 
jack-screw system.” 

“Just so. I tell them in the village that little is gained 
in the end by following the blind ; that is my doctrine, 
sir.” 

“And a very good doctrine it would prove, I make no 
doubt, were you to enter into it a little more fully ” 

“Well, sir, I can explain ” 

“ Not another syllable is necessary. I know what you 
mean as well as if I said it myself, and, moreover, short 
sermons are always the best. You mean that a pilot 
ought to know where he is steering, which is perfectly 
sound doctrine. My own experience tells me, that if you 
press a sturgeon’s nose with your foot, it will spring up as 
soon as it is loosened. Now the jack-screw will heave a 
great strain, no doubt ; but the moment it is let up, down 
comes all that rests on it again. This Mr. Dodge, I sup- 
pose you know, has been a passenger with me once or 
twice ? ” 

“ I have heard as much — they say he was tigerish in the 
fight with the niggers — quite an out-and-outer.” 

“Aye, I hear he tells some such story himself; but 
harkee, commodore, I wish to do justice to all men, and I 
find there is a very little of it inland, hereaway. The hero 
of that day is about to marry your beautiful Miss Effing- 


39 2 


HOME AS FOUND. 


ham ; other men did their duty too, as, for instance, was 
the case with Mr. John Effingham ; but Paul Blunt-Powis- 
Effingham finished the job. As for Mr. Steadfast Dodge, 
sir, I say nothing, unless it be to add that he was nowhere 
near me in that transaction ; and if any man felt like an 
alligator in Lent, on that occasion, it was your humble 
servant.” 

“ Which means that he was not nigh the enemy, I’ll 
swear before a magistrate.” 

“And no fear of perjury. Any one who saw Mr. John 
Effingham and Mr. Powis on that day, might have s.worn 
that they were father and son ; and any one who did not 
see Mr. Dodge might have said at once, that he did not 
belong to their family. That is all, sir ; I never disparage 
a passenger, and, therefore, shall say no more than merely 
to add, that Mr. Dodge is no warrior.” 

“ They say he has experienced religion lately, as they 
call it.” 

“It is high time, sir, for he has experienced sin quite 
long enough, according to my notion. I hear that the 
man goes up and down the country disparaging those 
whose shoe-ties he is unworthy to unloose, and that he has 
published some letters in his journal that are as false 
as his heart ; but let him beware lest the world should 
see, some rainy day, an extract from a certain log-book 
belonging to a ship called the Montauk. I am rejoicing 
at this marriage after all, commodore, or marriages, rather, 
for I understand that Mr. Paul Effingham and Sir George 
Templemore intend to make a double bowline of it to- 
morrow morning. All is arranged, and as soon as my 
eyes have witnessed that blessed sight, I shall trip for 
New York again.” 

“ It is clearly made out, then, that the young gentleman 
is Mr. John Effingham’s son ? ” 

“ As clear as the north-star in a bright night. The fel- 
low who spoke to me at the Fun of Fire has put usjn away 
to remove the last doubt, if. there were any doubt. Mr. 
Effingham himself, who is so cool-headed and cautious, 
says there is now sufficient proof to make it good in any 
court in America. That point maybe set down as settled, 
and, for my part, I rejoice it is so, since Mr. John Effing- 
ham has so long passed for an old bachelor, that it is a 


HOME AS FOUND. 


393 


credit to the corps to find one of them the father of so 
noble a son.” 

Here the commodore dropped his anchor, and the two 
friends began to fish. For an hour neither talked much, 
but having obtained the necessary stock of perch, they 
landed at the favorite spring, and prepared a fry. While 
seated on the grass, alternating between the potations of 
punch and the mastication of fish, these worthies again re- 
newed the dialogue in their usual discursive, philosophi- 
cal, and sentimental manner. 

“We are citizens of a surprisingly great country, com- 
modore,” commenced Mr. Truck, after one of his heaviest 
draughts ; “ everybody says it, from Maine to Florida, and 
what everybody says must be true.” 

“ Just so; sir. I sometimes wonder how so great a coun- 
try ever came to produce so little a man as myself.” 

“ A good cow may have a bad calf, and that explains the 
matter. Have you many as virtuous and pious women in 
this part of the world as Mrs. Abbott ? ” 

“The hills and valleys are filled with them. You mean 
persons who have got so much religion that they have no 
room for anything else ? ” 

“ I shall mourn to my dying day, that you were not 
brought up to the sea ! If you discover so much of the 
right material on fresh-water, what would you have been 
on salt ? The people who suck in nutriment from a brain 
and a conscience like those of Mr. Dodge, too, commo- 
dore, must get in time to be surprisingly clear-sighted.” 

“Just so ; his readers soon overreach themselves. But 
it’s of no great consequence, sir ; the people of this part of 
the world keep nothing long enough to do much good or 
much harm.” 

“ Fond of change, ha? ” 

“Like unlucky fishermen, always ready to shift ’the 
ground. I don’t believe, sir, that in all this region you can 
find a dozen graves of sons that lie near their fathers. 
Everybody seems to have a mortal aversion to stability.” 

“ It is hard to love such a country, commodore !” 

“ Sir, I never try to love it. God has given me a pretty 
sheet of water, that suits my fancy and wants, a beautiful 
sky, fine green mountains, and I am satisfied. One may 
love God, in such a temple, though he love nothing else.” 


394 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“Well, I suppose if you love nothing, nothing loves you, 
and no injustice is done.” 

“ Just so, sir. Self has got to be the idol, though in the 
general scramble a man is sometimes puzzled to know 
whether he is himself or one of the neighbors.” 

“ I wish I knew your political sentiments, commodore ; 
you have been communicative on all subjects but that, and 
I have taken up the notion that you are a true philoso-* 
pher.” 

“ I hold myself to be but a babe in swaddling-clothes 
compared to yourself, sir ; but such as my poor opinions 
are, you are welcome to them. In the first place, then, sir, 

I have lived long enough on this water to know that every 
man is a lover of liberty in his own person, and that he 
has a secret distaste for it in the persons of other people. 
Then, sir, I have got to understand that patriotism means 
bread and cheese, and that opposition is every man for 
himself.” 

“ If the truth were known, I believe, commodore, you 
have buoyed out the channel !”• 

“Just so. After being pulled about by the salt of the 
land, and using my freeman’s privileges at their command 
until I got tired of so much liberty, sir, I have resigned, 
and retired to private life, doing most of my own thinking 
out here on the Otsego-Water, like a poor slave as I am.” 

“You ought to be chosen the next President ! ” 

“ I owe my present emancipation, sir, to the sogdollager. 

I first began to reason about such a man as this Mr. Dodge, 
who has thrust himself and his ignorance together into the 
village, lately, as an expounder of truth, and a ray of light 
to the blind. Well, sir, I said to myself, if this man be the 
man I know him to be as a man, can he be anything better 
as an editor ? ” 

“ That was a home question put to yourself, commo- 
dore ; how did you answer ij ? ” 

“The answer was satisfactory, sir, to myself, whatever it 
might be to other people. I stopped his paper, and set up 
for myself. Just about that time the sogdollager nibbled, 
and instead of trying to be a great man, over the shoulders 
of the patriots and sages of the land, I endeavored to im- 
mortalize myself by hooking him. I go to the elections 
now, for that I feel to be a duty, but instead of allowing a 


HOME AS FOUND. 


395 


man like this Mr. Dodge to tell me how to vote, I vote for 
the man in public that I would trust in private.” 

“ Excellent ! I honor you more and more every minute 
1 pass in your society. We will now drink to the future 
happiness of those who will become brides and bridegrooms 
to-morrow. If all men were as philosophical and as learned 
as you, commodore, the human race would be in a fairer 
way than they are to-day.” 

“Just so ; I drink to them with all my heart. Is it not 
surprising, sir, that people like Mrs. Abbott and Mr. Dodge 
should have it in their power to injure such as those whose 
happiness we have just had the honor of commemorating 
in advance ?” 

“ Why, commodore, a fly may bite an elephant, if he can 
find a weak spot in his hide. I do not altogether under- 
stand the history of the marriage of John Effingham, my- 
self ; but we see the issue of it has been a fine son. Now 
I hold that when a man fairly marries, he is bound to own 
it, the same as any other crime ; for he owes it to those 
who have not been as guilty as himself, to show the world 
that he no longer belongs to them.” 

“Just so ; but we have flies in this part of the world that 
will bite through the toughest hide.” 

“ That comes from there being no quarter-deck in your 
social ship, commodore. Now, aboard of a well-regulated 
packet, all the thinking is done aft ; they who are desirous 
of knowing whereabouts the vessel is, being compelled to 
wait till the observations are taken, or to sit down in their 
ignorance. The whole difficulty comes from the fact that 
sensible people live so far apart in this quarter of the world 
that fools have more room than should fall to their share. 
You understand me, commodore ?” 

“Just so,” said the commodore, laughing and winking. 
“ Well, it is fortunate that there are some people who are 
not quite as weak-minded as some other people. I take it, 
Captain Truck, that you will be present at the wedding?” 

The captain now winked in his turn, looked around him 
to make sure no one was listening, and laying a finger on 
his nose, he answered in a much lower key than was usual 
for him — 

“You can keep a secret, I know, commodore. Now 
what I have to say is not to be told to Mrs. Abbott, in or- 


HOME AS FOUND. 


39 6 

der that it may be repeated and multiplied, but is to be 
kept as snug as your bait in the bait-box.” 

“ You know your man, sir.” 

“Well then, about ten minutes before the clock strikes 
nine, to-morrow morning, do you slip into the gallery of 
New St. Paul’s, and you shall see beauty and modesty, 
when c unadorned, adorned the most.’ You comprehend ? ” 

“ Just so,” and the hand was flourished even more than 
usual. 

“It does not become us bachelors to be too lenient to 
matrimony, but I should be an unhappy man were I not to 
witness the marriage of Paul Powis to Eve Effingham.” 

Here both the worthies “freshened the nip,” as Captain 
Truck called it, and then the conversation soon got to be 
too philosophical and contemplative for this unpretending 
record of events and ideas. 


CHAPTER XXIX. 

“ Then plainly know, my heart’s dear love is set 
On the fair daughter of rich Capulet ; 

As mine on hers, so hers is set on mine ; 

And all combined, save what thou must confine 
By holy marriage.” — Romeo and Juliet. 

The morning chosen for the nuptials of Eve and Grace 
arrived, and all the inmates of the Wigwam were early 
afoot, though the utmost care had been taken to prevent 
the intelligence of the approaching ceremony from getting 
into the village. They little knew, however, how closely 
they were watched ; the mean artifices that were resorted 
to by some who called themselves their neighbors, to tam- 
per with servants, to obtain food for conjecture, and to 
justify to themselves their exaggerations, falsehoods, and 
frauds. The news did leak out, as will presently be seen, 
and through a channel that may cause the reader, who is 
unacquainted with some of the peculiarities of American 
life, a little surprise. 

We have frequently alluded to Annette, the femmede 
chambre that had followed Eve from Europe, although we 


397 


HOME AS FOUND. 

have had no occasion to dwell on her character, which was 
that of a woman of her class, as they are well known to 
exist in France. Annette was young, had bright, spark- 
ling black eyes, was well made, and had the usual tournure 
and manner of a Parisian grisette. As it is the besetting 
weakness of all provincial habits to mistake graces for 
grace, flourishes for elegance, and exaggeration for merit, 
Annette soon acquired a reputation in her circle, as a wom- 
an of more than usual claims to distinction. Her attire 
was in the height of the fashion, being of Eve’s cast-off 
clothes, and of the best materials, and attire is also a point 
that is not without its influence on those who are unac- 
customed to the world. 

As the double ceremony was to take place before break- 
fast, Annette was early employed about the person of her 
young mistress, adorning it in the bridal robes. While 
she worked at her usual employment, the attendant ap- 
peared unusually agitated, and several times pins were 
badly pointed, and new arrangements had to supersede 
or to'supply the deficiencies of her mistakes. Eve was al- 
ways a model of patience, and she bore with these little 
oversights with a quiet that would have given Paul an ad- 
ditional pledge of her admirable self-command, as well as 
of a sweetness of temper that, in truth, raised her almost 
above the commoner feelings of mortality. 

“ Vo us etes un pen agite'e ce matin , ma bonne Annette ,” she 
merely observed, when her maid had committed a blunder 
more material than common. 

“ 'jf'espere que Mademoiselle a ete contente de moi jusqu'a 
present,” returned Annette, vexed with her own awkward- 
ness, and speaking in the manner in which it is usual to 
announce an intention to quit a service. 

“ Certainly, Annette, you have conducted yourself well, 
and are very expert in your metier. But why do you -ask 
this question just at this moment ? ” 

“ Parce que — because — with Mademoiselle’s permission, 
I intended to ask for my congL ” 

“ Conge ! Do you think of quitting me, Annette ? ” 

“ It would make me happier than anything else to die in 
the service of Mademoiselle, but we are all subject to our 
destiny” — the conversation was in French — “and mine 
compels me to cease my services as a femme de chambre.” 


398 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“This is a sudden, and for one in a strange country, an 
extraordinary resolution. May I ask, Annette, what you 
propose to do ? ” 

Here the woman gave herself certain airs, endeavored 
to blush, did look at the carpet with a studied modesty 
that might have deceived one who did not know the genus, 
and announced her intention to get married, too, at the 
end of the present month.” 

“ Married !” repeated Eve — “surely not to old Pierre, 
Annette ?” 

“ Pierre, Mademoiselle ! I shall not condescend to look 
at Pierre. Je vais me marier avec un avocat.'* 

“ Un avocat ! " 

“ Oui, Mademoiselle. I will marry myself with Monsieur 
Aristabule Bragg, if Mademoiselle shall permit.” 

Eve was perfectly mute with astonishment, notwithstand- 
ing the proofs she had often seen of the wide range that the 
ambition of an American of a certain class allows itself. 
Of course, she remembered the conversation on the Point, 
and it would not have been in nature, had not a mistress 
who had been so lately wooed, felt some surprise at finding 
her discarded suitor so soon seeking consolation in the 
smiles of her own maid. Still her surprise was less than 
that which the reader will probably experience at this an- 
nouncement ; for, as has just been said, she had seen too 
much of the active and pliant enterprise of the lover, to 
feel much wonder at any of his moral tours de force. Even 
Eve, however, was not perfectly acquainted with the views 
and policy that had led Aristabulus to seek this consumma- 
tion to his matrimonial schemes, which must be explained 
explicitly in order that they may be properly understood. 

Mr. Bragg had no notion of any distinctions in the world, 
beyond those which came from money and political success. 
For the first he had a practical deference that was as pro- 
found as his wishes for its enjoyments ; and for the last he 
felt precisely the sort of reverence that one educated under 
a feudal system would feel for a feudal lord. The first, after 
several unsuccessful efforts, he had found unattainable by 
means of matrimony, and he turned his thoughts toward 
Annette, whom he had for some months held in reserve, in 
the event of his failing with Eve and Grace, for on both 
these heiresses had he entertained designs, as a pis-aller. 


HOME AS FOUND. 


399 


Annette was a dressmaker of approved taste, her person 
was sufficiently attractive, her broken English gave piq- 
uancy to thoughts of no great depth, she was of a suitable 
age, and he had made her proposals and been accepted, as 
soon as it was ascertained that Eve and Grace were irre- 
trievably lost to him. Of course, the Parisienne did not 
hesitate an instant about becoming the wife of un avocat ; 
for, agreeably to her habits, matrimony was a legitimate 
means of bettering her condition in life. The plan was 
soon arranged. They were to be married as soon as An- 
nette’s month’s notice had* expired, and then they were to 
emigrate to the far West, where Mr. Bragg proposed to 
practise law, or to keep school, or to go to Congress, or to 
turn trader, or to saw lumber, or, in short, to turn his hand 
to anything that offered ; while Annette was to help along 
with the menage by making dresses, and teaching French; 
the latter occupation promising to be somewhat peripatetic, 
the population being scattered, and few of the dwellers in 
the interior deeming it necessary to take more than a quar- 
ter’s instruction in any of the higher branches of education ; 
the object being to study, as it is called, and not to know. 
Aristabulus, who was filled with goaheadism, would have 
shortened the delay, but this Annette positively resisted ; 
her esprit de corps as a servant, and all her notions of jus- 
tice, repudiating the notion that the connection which had 
existed so long between Eve and herself was to be cut off 
at a moment’s warning. So diametrically were the ideas 
of the fiances opposed to each other on this point, that at 
one time it threatened a rupture, Mr. Bragg asserting the 
natural independence of man to a degree that would have 
rendered him independent of all obligations that were not 
effectually enacted by the law, and Annette maintaining the 
dignity of a European femme de chambre, whose sense of 
propriety demanded that she should not quit her place 
without giving a month’s warning. The affair was happily 
decided by Aristabulus’s receiving a commission to tend a 
store in the absence of its owner ; Mr. Effingham, on a hint 
from his daughter, having profited by the annual expiration 
of the engagement to bring their connection to an end. 

This termination to the passion of Mr. Bragg would have 
afforded Eve a good deal of amusement at any other mo- 
ment ; but a bride cannot be expected to give too much of 


400 


HOME AS FOUND. 


her attention to the felicity and prospects of those who have 
no natural or acquired claims to her affection. The cou- 
sins met, attired for the ceremony, in Mr. Effingham’s 
room, where he soon came in person to lead them to the 
drawing-room. It is seldom that two more lovely young 
women are brought together on similar occasions. As 
Mr. Effingham stood between them, holding a hand of each, 
his moistened eyes turned from one to the other in honest 
pride, and in an admiration that even his tenderness could 
not restrain. The toilettes w T ere as simple as the marriage 
ceremony will permit ; for it was intended that there should 
be no unnecessary parade ; and perhaps the delicate beauty 
of each of the brides was rendered the more attractive by 
this simplicity, as it has often been justly remarked that 
the fair of this country are more winning in a dress of a 
less conventional character than when in the elaborate and 
regulated attire of ceremonies. As might have been ex- 
pected, there was most of soul and feeling in Eve’s coun- 
tenance, though Grace wore an air of charming modesty 
and nature. Both were unaffected, simple, and graceful, 
and we may add that both trembled as Mr. Effingham took 
their hands. 

“ This is a pleasing and yet a painful hour,” said that 
kind and excellent man ; “ one in which I gain a son, and 
lose a daughter.” 

“ And /; dearest uncle,” exclaimed Grace, whose feelings 
trembled on her eyelids, like the dew ready to drop from 
the leaf, “ have I no connection with your feelings ? ” 

“You are the daughter that I lose, my child, for Eve 
will still remain with me. But Templemore has promised 
to be grateful, and I will trust his word.” 

Mr. Effingham then embraced with fervor both the charm- 
ing young women, who stood apparelled for the most im- 
portant event of their lives, lovely in their youth, beauty, 
innocence, and modesty ; and taking an arm of each he 
led them below. John Effingham, the two bridegrooms, 
Captain Ducie, Mr. and Mrs. Bloomfield, Mrs. Hawker, 
Captain Truck, Mademoiselle Viefville, Annette, and Ann 
Sidley, were all assembled in the drawing-room, ready to 
receive them ; and as soon as shawls were thrown around 
Eve and Grace, in order to conceal the wedding dresses, 
the whole party proceeded to the church. 


HOME AS FOUND. 


401 


The distance between the Wigwam and New St. Paul’s 
was very trifling, the solemn pines of the churchyard 
blending, from many points, with the gayer trees in the 
grounds of the former ; and as the buildings in this part 
of the village were few, the whole of the bridal train en- 
tered the tower unobserved by the eyes of the curious. The 
clergyman was waiting in the chancel, and as each of the 
young men led the object of his choice immediately to the 
altar, the double ceremony began without delay. At this 
instant Mr. Steadfast Dodge and Mrs. Abbott advanced 
from the rear of the gallery, and coolly took their seats in 
its front. Neither belonged to this particular church, 
though, having discovered that the marriages were to take 
place that morning by means of Annette, they had no 
scruples on the score of delicacy about thrusting themselves 
forward on the occasion ; for, to the latest moment, that 
publicity-principle which appeared to be interwoven with 
their very natures, induced them to think that nothing was 
so sacred as to be placed beyond the reach of curiosity. 
They entered the church, because the church they held to 
be a public place, precisely on the principle that others qf 
their class conceive if a gate be blown open by accident, 
it removes all the moral defences against trespassers as it 
removes the physical. 

The solemn language of the prayers and vows proceeded 
none the less for the presence of these unwelcome in- 
truders ; for at that grave moment all other thoughts were 
hushed in those that more properly belonged to the scene. 
When the clergyman made the usual appeal to know if 
any man could give a reason why those who stood before 
him should not be united in holy wedlock, Mrs. Abbott 
nudged Mr. Dodge, and, in the fulness of her discontent, 
eagerly inquired in a whisper if it were not possible to 
raise some valid objection. Could she have had her pious 
wish, the simple, unpretending, meek, and church-going 
Eve should never be married. But the editor was not a 
man to act openly in anything, his particular province 
lying in insinuations and innuendoes. As a hint would not 
now be available, he determined to postpone his revenge 
to a future day. We say revenge, for Steadfast was one of 
the class that consider any happiness or advantage in which 
they are not ample participators wrongs done to themselves. 

26 


402 


HOME AS FOUND. 


That is a wise regulation of the church which makes 
the marriage ceremony brief, for the intensity of the 
feelings it often creates would frequently become too 
powerful to be suppressed, were it unnecessarily pro- 
longed. Mr. Effingham gave away both the brides, the 
one in the quality of parent, the other in that of guardian, 
and neither of the bridegrooms got the ring on the wrong 
finger. This is all we have to say of the immediate scene 
at the altar. As soon as the benediction was pronounced 
and the brides were released from the first embraces of 
their husbands, Mr. Effingham, without even kissing Eve, 
threw the shawls over their shoulders, and, taking an arm 
of each, he led them rapidly from the church, for he 
felt reluctant to suffer the holy feelings that wqre upper- 
most in his heart to be the spectacle of rude and obtrusive 
observers. At the door he relinquished Eve to Paul, and 
Grace to Sir George, with a silent pressure of the hand of 
each, and signed for them to proceed toward the Wigwam. 
He was obeyed, and in less than half an hour from the 
time they had left the drawing-room, the whole party was 
again assembled in it. 

What a change had been produced in the situation of so 
many in that brief interval! 

“ Father !” Eve whispered, while Mr. Effingham folded 
her to his heart, the unbidden tears falling from both their 
eyes-— “ I am still thine ! ” 

“ It would break my heart to think otherwise, darling. 
No, no — I have not lost a daughter, but have gained a 
son.” 

“ And what place am I to occupy in this scene of fond- 
ness?” inquired John Effingham, who had considerately 
paid his compliments to Grace first, that she might not 
feel forgotten at such a moment, and who had so managed 
that she was now receiving the congratulations of the rest 
of the party ; “ am I to lose both son and daughter ?” 

Eve, smiling sweetly through her tears, raised herself 
from her own father’s arms, and was received in those of 
her husband’s parent. After he had fondly kissed her 
forehead several times, without withdrawing from his 
bosom, she parted the rich hair on his forehead, passing 
her hand down his face like an infant, and said softly — 

“ Cousin Jack ! ” 


HOME AS FOUND. 


403 


“I believe this must be my rank and estimation still ! 
Paul shall make no difference in our feeling; we will love 
each other as we have ever done.” 

“ Paul can be nothing new between you and me. You 
have always been a second father in my eyes, and in my 
heart, too, dear — dear Cousin Jack.” 

John Effingham pressed the beautiful, ardent, blushing 
girl to his bosom again ; and as he did so, both felt, not- 
withstanding their language, that a new and dearer tie 
than ever bound them together. Eve now received the 
compliments of the rest of the party, when the two brides 
retired to change the dresses in w T hich they had appeared 
at the altar for their more ordinary attire. 

In her own dressing-room Eve found Ann Sidley waiting 
with impatience to pour out her feelings, the honest and 
affectionate creature being much too sensitive to open the 
floodgates of her emotion in the presence of third parties. 

Ma’am— Miss Eve — Mrs. Effingham ! ” she exclaimed, 
as soon as her young mistress entered, afraid of saying too 
much, now that her nursling had become a married woman. 

“My kind and good Nanny !” said Eve, taking her old 
nurse in her arms, their tears mingling in silence for near 
a minute. “ You have seen your child enter on the last of 
her great earthly engagements, Nanny, and I know you 
pray that they may prove happy.” 

“ I do — I do — I do — ma’am — madam — Miss Eve — what 
am I to call you in future, ma’am ? ” 

“ Call me Miss Eve, as you have done since my childhood, 
dearest Nanny.” 

Nanny received this permission with delight, and twenty, 
times that morning she availed herself of it ; and she con- 
tinued to use the term until, two years later, she danced a 
miniature Eve on her knee, as she had done its mother be- 
fore her, when matronly rank began silently to assert its 
rights, and our present bride became Mrs. Effingham. 

“ I shall not quit you, ma’am, now that you are married ?” 
Ann Sidley timidly asked ; for, although she could scarcely 
think such an event within the bounds of probability, and 
Eve had already more than once assured her of the contrary 
with her own tongue, still did she love to have assurance 
made doubly sure. “ I hope nothing will ever happen to 
make me quit you, ma’am ? ” 


404 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“ Nothing of that sort, with my consent, ever shall 
happen, my excellent Nanny. And now that Annette is 
about to get married, I shall have more than the usual ne- 
cessity for your services.” 

“ And Mamerzelle, ma’am ? ” inquired Nanny, with spark- 
ling eyes ; “ I suppose, she, too, will return to her own 
country, now you know everything, and have no further 
occasion for her ? ” 

“ Mademoiselle Viefville will return to France in the au- 
tumn, but it will be with tfs all ; for my dear father, Cousin 
Jack, my husband ” — Eve blushed as she pronounced the 
novel word — “ and myself, not forgettingyou, my old nurse, 
will all sail for England, with Sir George and Lady Tem- 
plemore, on our wav to Italy, the first week in October.” 

“ I care not, ma’am, so that I go with you. I would 
rather we did not live in a country where I cannot under- 
stand all that the people say to you, but wherever you are 
will be my earthly paradise.” 

Eve kissed the true-hearted woman, and Annette enter- 
ing, she changed her dress. 

The two brides met at the head of the great stairs, on 
their way back to the drawing-room. Eve was a little in 
advance, but with a half-concealed smile she gave way to 
Grace, curtsying gravely, and saying — 

“ It does not become me to precede Lady Templemore — 
I, who am only Mrs. Paul Effingham.” 

“ Nay, dear Eve, I am not so weak as you imagine. Do 
you not think I should have married him had he not been 
a baronet ? ” 

“ Templemore, my dear coz, is a man any woman might 
love,* and I believe, as firmly as I hope it sincerely, that he 
will make you happy.” 

“And yet there is one woman who would not love him, 
Eve ! ” 

Eve looked steadily at her cousin for a moment, was 
startled, and then she felt gratified that Sir George had 
been so honest, for the frankness and manliness of his 
avowal was a pledge of the good faith and sincerity of his 
character. She took her cousin affectionately by the hand, 
and said — 

“ Grace, this confidence is the highest compliment you 
can pay me, and it merits a return. That Sir George 


HOME AS FOUND. 


405 


Templemore may have had a passing inclination for one 
who so little deserved it, is possibly true— but my affec- 
tions were another’s before I knew him.” 

“You never would have married Templemore, Eve ; he 
says himself, now, that you are quite too continental, as 
he calls it, to like an Englishman.” 

“ Then I shall take the first good occasion to undeceive 
him ; for I do like an Englishman, and he is the identical 
man.” 

As few women are jealous on their wedding-day, Grace 
took this in good part, and they descended the stairs to- 
gether, side by side,. reflecting each other’s happiness in 
their timid but conscious smiles. In the great hall they 
were met by the bridegrooms, an*d each taking the arm 
of him who -had now become of so vast importance to her, 
they paced the room to and fro, until summoned to the 
dejeuner d la fourchette , which had been prepared under the 
especial superintendence of Mademoiselle Viefville, after 
the manner of her country. 

Wedding-days, like all formally prepared festivals, are 
apt to go off a little heavily. Such, however, was not the 
case with this, for every appearance of premeditation and 
preparation vanished with this meal. It is true the family 
did not quit the grounds, but, with this exception, ease and 
tranquil happiness reigned throughout. Captain Truck 
was alone disposed to be sentimental, and more than 
once, as he looked about him, he expressed, his doubts 
whether he had pursued the right course to attain happi- 
ness. 

“I find myself in a solitary category,” he said at the 
dinner-table in the evening. “ Mrs. Hawker and both the 
Messrs. Effingham have been married ; everybody else is 
married, and I believe I must take refuge in saying that I 
will be married, if I can now persuade any one to have me. 
Even Mr. Powis, my right-hand man in all that African 
affair, has deserted me, and left me J ike a single dead pine 
in one of your clearings, or a jewel-block dangling at a 
yard-arm without a sheave. Mrs. Bride ” — the captain 
styled Eve thus throughout the day, to the utter neglect 
of the claims of Lady Templemore — “ Mrs. Bride, we will 
consider my forlorn condition more philosophically when 
I shall have the honor to take you, and so many of this 


406 


HOME AS FOUND . 


blessed party, back again to Europe, where I found you. 
Under your advice I think I might even yet venture ” 

“And I am overlooked entirely,” cried Mr. Howel, who 
had been invited to make one at the wedding-feast ; “what 
is to become of me, Captain Truck, if this marrying ma- 
nia go any further ? ” 

“ I have long had a plan for your welfare, my dear sir, 
that I will take this opportunity to divulge ; I propose, 
ladies and gentlemen, that we enlist Mr. Howel in our 
project for this autumn, and that we carry him with us to 
Europe. I shall be proud to have the honor of introduc- 
ing him to his old friend, the island of Great Britain.” 

“ Ah ! that is a happiness, I fear, that is not in reserve for 
me! ” said Mr. Howel, shaking his head. “ I have thought 
of these things in my time, but age will now defeat any 
such hopes.” 

“Age, Tom Howel !” said John Effingham; “you are 
but fifty, like Ned and myself. We were all boys together 
forty years ago, and yet you find us, who have so lately 
returned, ready to take a fresh departure. Pluck up 
heart ; there may be a steamboat ready to bring you back 
by the time you wish to return.” 

“Never,” said Captain Truck, positively. “Ladies and 
gentlemen, it is morally impossible that the Atlantic should 
ever be navigated by steamers. That doctrine I shall 
maintain to my dying day ; but what need of a steamer 
when we have packets like palaces ? ” 

“ I did not know, captain, that you entertained so hearty 
a respect for Great Britain — it is encouraging, really, to 
find so generous a feeling toward the old island in one of 
her descendants. Sir George and Lady Templemore, per- 
mit me to drink to your lasting felicity.” 

“Aye — aye — I entertain no ill-will to England, though 
her tobacco laws are none of the genteelest. But my wish 
to export you, Mr. Howel, is less from a desire to show 
you England than to let you perceive that there are other 
countries in Europe ” 

“Other countries! Surely you do not suppose I am so 
ignorant of geography as to believe that there are no other 
countries in Europe — no such places as Hanover, Bruns- 
wick, and Brunswick Lunenberg, and Denmark ; the sis- 
ter of old George the Third married the king of that 


HOME AS FOUND. 


407 


country ; and Wurtemberg, the king of which married the 
Princess Royal ” 

“ And Mecklenburg-Strelitz,” added John Effingham, 
gravely, “a princess of which actually married George 
the Third propria persona as well as by proxy. Nothing 
can be plainer than your geography, Howel ; but, in ad- 
dition to these particular regions, our worthy friend the 
captain wishes you to know, also, that there are such places 
as France, and Austria, and Russia, and Italy ; though the 
latter can scarcely repay a man for the trouble of visiting 
it.” 

“You have guessed my motive, Mr. John Effingham, 
and expressed it much more discreetly than I could pos- 
sibly have done,” cried the captain. “If Mr. Howel will 
do me the honor to take passage with me, going and com- 
ing, I shall consider the pleasure of his remarks on men 
and things as one of the greatest advantages I ever pos- 
sessed.” 

“ I do not know but I might be induced to venture as 
far as England, but not a foot farther.” 

“ Pas a Paris l” exclaimed Mademoiselle Viefville, who 
wondered why any rational being would take the trouble to 
cross the Atlantic merely to see ce melancolique Londres ; 
“you will go to Paris for my sake, Monsieur Howel ?” 

“ For your sake, indeed, Mam’selle, I would do any- 
thing, but hardly for my own. I confess I have thought 
of this, and I will think of it farther. I should like to see 
the King of England and the House of Lords, I confess, 
before I die.” 

“Aye, and the Tower, and the Boar’s-Head at East- 
Cheap, and the statue of the Duke of Wellington, and 
London Bridge, and Richmond Hill, and Bow Street, and 
Somerset House, and Oxford Road, and Bartlemy Fair, 
and Hungerford Market, and Charing-Cross — old Charing- 
Cross, Tom Howel ! ’’—added John Effingham, with a 
good-natured nod of the head. 

“ A wonderful nation ! ” cried Mr. Howel, whose eyes 
sparkled as the other proceeded in his enumeration of 
wonders. “ I do not think, after all, that I can die in 
peace without seeing some of these things — all would be 
too much for me. How far is the Isle of Dogs, now, from 
St. Catharine’s Docks, captain?” 


408 


HOME AS FOUND. 


“ Oh ! but a few cables’ lengths. If you will only stick 
to the ship until she is fairly docked, I will promise you a 
sight of the Isle of Dogs before you land, even. But then 
you must promise me to carry out no tobacco ! ” 

“ No fear of me ; I neither smoke nor chew, and it does 
not surprise me that a nation as polished as the English 
should have this antipathy to tobacco. And one might 
really see the Isle of Dogs before landing? It is a won- 
derful country! Mrs. Bloomfield, will you ever be able 
to die tranquilly without seeing England ? ” 

“ I hope, sir, whenever that event shall arrive that it 
may be met tranquilly, let what may happen previously. 

I do confess, in common with Mrs. Effingham, a longing 
desire to see Italy ; a wish that I believe she entertains 
from her actual knowledge, and which I entertain from 
my anticipations.” 

“ Now this really surprises me. What can Italy possess 
to repay one for the trouble of travelling so far ? ” 

“ I trust, Cousin Jack,” said Eve, coloring at the sound 
of her own voice, for on that day of supreme happiness 
and intense emotions, she had got to be so sensitive as to 
be less self-possessed than common, “that our friend Mr. 
Wenham will not be forgotten, but that he may be invited 
to join the party.” 

This representative of la jeune Amerique was also present 
at the dinner, out of regard to his deceased father, who 
was a very old friend of Mr. Effingham’s, and being so fa- 
vorably noticed by the bride, he did not fail to reply. 

“ I believe an American has little to learn from any na- 
tion but his own,” observed Mr. Wenham, with the com- 
placency of the school to wffiich he belonged, “although 
one might wish that all of this country should travel, in 
order that the rest of the world might have th& benefit of 
the intercourse.” 

“It is a thousand pities,” said John Effingham, “that 
one of our universities, for instance, was not ambulant. 
Old Yale was so in its infancy ; but unlike most other 
creatures, it went about with greater ease to itself when a 
child than it can move in manhood.” 

“Mr. John Effingham loves to be facetious,” said Mr. 
Wenham, with dignity ; for, while he was as credulous as 
could be wished on the subject of American superiority, 


HOME AS FOUND. 


409 


he was not quite as blind as the votaries of the Anglo- 
American school, who usually yield the control of all their 
faculties and common sense to their masters on the points 
connected with their besetting weaknesses. “ Everybody 
is agreed, I believe, that the American imparts more than 
he receives in his intercourse with Europeans.” 

The smiles of the more experienced of this young man’s 
listeners were well-bred and concealed, and the conversa- 
tion turned to other subjects. It was easy to raise the 
•laugh on such an occasion, and contrary to the usages of 
the Wigwam, where the men usually left the table with 
the other sex, Captain Truck, John Effingham, Mr. Bloom- 
field, and Mr. Howel, made what is called a night of it. 
Much delicious claret was consumed, and the honest cap- 
tain was permitted to enjoy his cigar. About midnight he 
swore he had half a mind to write a letter to Mrs. Hawker, 
with an offer of his hand ; as for his heart, that she well 
knew she had possessed for a long time. 

The next day, about the hour when the house was tran- 
quil, from the circumstance that most of its inmates were 
abroad on their several avocations of boating, riding, shop- 
ping, or walking, Eve was in the library, her father having 
left it a few minutes before to mount his horse. She was 
seated at a table, writing a letter to an aged relative of her 
own sex, to communicate the circumstance of her marriage. 
The door was half open, and Paul appeared at it unex- 
pectedly, coming in search of his young bride. His step 
had been so light, and so intently was our heroine en- 
gaged with her letter, that his approach was unnoticed, 
though it had now been a long time that the ear of Eve 
had learned to know his tread, and her heart to beat at its 
welcome sound. Perhaps a beautiful woman is never so 
winningly lovely as when, in her neat morning attire, she 
seems fresh and sweet as the new-born day. Eve had paid 
a little more attention to her toilette than usual even, ad- 
mitting just enough of a properly selected jewelry, a style 
of ornament that so singularly denotes the refinement of 
a gentlewoman, when used understanding^, and which so 
infallibly betrays vulgarity under other circumstances, 
while her attire had rather more than its customary finish, 
though it was impossible not to perceive at a glance, that 
she was \n an undress. The Parisian skill of Annette, on 


4io 


HOME AS FOUND. 


which Mr. Bragg based so many of his hopes of future 
fortune, had cut and fitted the robe to her faultlessly beau- 
tiful person, with a tact, or it might be truer to say a con- 
tact, so perfect, that it even left more charms to be im- 
agined than displayed, though the outline of the whole 
figure was that of the most lovely womanhood. But, not- 
withstanding the exquisite modelling of the whole form, 
the almost fairy lightness of the full, swelling, but small 
foot, about which nothing seemed lean and attenuated, the 
exquisite hand that appeared from among the ruffles of 
the dress, Paul stood in nearly breathless admiration of 
the countenance of his “bright and blooming bride.” 
Perhaps there is no sentiment so touchingly endearing to 
a man, as that which comes over him as he contemplates 
the beauty, confiding faith, holy purity, and truth that 
shine in the countenance of a young, unpractised, innocent 
woman, when she has so far overcome her natural timidity 
as to pour out her tenderness in his behalf, and to submit 
to the strongest impulses of her nature. Such was now 
the fact with Eve. She was writing of her husband, and, 
though her expressions were restrained by taste and edu- 
cation, they partook of her unutterable fondness and de- 
votion. The tears stood in her eyes, the pen trembled in 
her hand, and she had shaded her face as if to conceal the 
weakness from herself. Paul was alarmed, he knew not 
why, but Eve in tears was a sight painful to him. In a 
moment he was at her side, wfith an arm placed gently 
around her waist, and he drew her fondly toward his 
bosom. 

“Eve — dearest Eve!” he said — “what mean these 
tears ? ” 

The serene eye, the radiant blush, and the meek tender- 
ness that rewarded his own burst of feeling, re-assured the 
young husband, and, deferring to the sensitive modesty of 
so young a bride, he released his hold, retaining only a 
hand. 

“ It is happiness, Powis — nothing but excess of happi- 
ness, which makes us women weaker, I fear, than even 
sorrow.” 

Paul kissed her hands, regarded her with an intensity of 
admiration, before which the eyes of Eve rose and fell, as 
if dazzled while meeting his looks, and yet unwilling to 


HOME AS FOUND. 


411 


lose them ; and then he reverted to the motive which had 
brought him to the library. 

“ My father — your father, that is now ” 

“ Cousin Jack ! ” 

“ Cousin Jack, if you will, has just made me a present, 
which is second only to the greater gift I received from 
your own excellent parent, yesterday, at the altar. See, 
dearest Eve, he has bestowed this lovely image of yourself 
on me ; lovely, though still so far from the truth. And 
here is the miniature of my poor mother, also, to supply 
the place of the one carried away by the Arabs.” 

Eve gazed long and wistfully at the beautiful features 
of this image of her husband’s mother. She traced in 
them that pensive thought, that winning kindness, that 
had first softened her heart toward Paul, and her lips 
trembled as she pressed the insensible glass against them. 

“ She must have been very handsome, Eve, and there is 
a look of melancholy tenderness in the face, that would 
seem almost to predict an unhappy blighting of the 
affections.” 

“ And yet this young, ingenuous, faithful woman en- 
tered on the solemn engagement we have just made, Paul, 
with as many reasonable hopes of a bright future as we 
ourselves ! ” 

“Not so, Eve — confidence and holy truth were wanting 
at the nuptials of my parents. When there is deception 
at the commencement of such a contract, it is not difficult 
to predict the end.” 

“ I do not think, Paul, you ever deceived ; that noble 
heart of yours is too generous ! ” 

“If anything can make a man worthy of such a love, 
dearest, it is the perfect and absorbing confidence with 
which your sex throw themselves on the justice and faith 
of ours. Did that spotless heart ever entertain a doubt of 
the worth of any living being on which it had set its 
affections ? ” 

“ Of itself, often, and they say self-love lies at the 
bottom of all our actions.” 

“ You are the last person to hold this doctrine, beloved, 
for those who live most in your confidence declare that all 
traces of self are lost in your very nature.” 

“Most in my confidence! My father — my dear, kind 


412 


HOME AS FOUND. 


father, has then been betraying his besetting weakness, by 
extolling the gift he has rfiade.” 

“ Your kind, excellent father, knows too well the total 
want of necessity for any such thing. If the truth must 
be confessed, I have been passing a quarter of an hour 
with worthy Ann Sidlev.” 

“Nanny — dear old Nanny! — and you have been weak 
enough, traitor, to listen to the eulogiums of a nurse on 
her child ! ” 

“ All praise of thee, my blessed Eve, is grateful to my 
ears, and who can speak more understandingly of those 
domestic qualities which lie at the root of domestic bliss, 
than those who have seen you in your most intimate life, 
from childhood down to the moment when you have as- 
sumed the duties of a wife ? ” 

“Paul, Paul, thou art beside thyself; too much learn- 
ing hath made thee mad ! ” 

“ I am not mad, most beloved and beautiful Eve, but 
blessed to a degree that might indeed upset a stronger 
reason.” 

“We will now talk of other things,” said Eve, raising 
his hand to her lips in respectful affection, and looking 
gratefully up into his fond and eloquent eyes ; “ I hope 
the feeling of which you so lately spoke has subsided, and 
that you no longer feel yourself a stranger in the dwelling 
of your own family.” 

“ Now that I can claim a right through you, I confess 
that my conscience is getting to be easier on this point. 
Have you been yet told of the arrangement that the older 
heads meditate in reference to our future means ? ” 

“ I would not listen to my dear father when he wished 
to introduce the subject, for I found that it was a project 
that made distinctions between Paul Effingham and Eve 
Effingham — two that I wish, henceforth, to consider as 
one in all things.” 

“ In this, darling, you may do yourself injustice as well 
as me. But perhaps you may not wish me to speak on 
the subject, neither.” 

“ What would my lord ? ” 

“ Then listen, and the tale is soon told. We are each 
other’s natural heirs. Of the name and blood of Effing- 
ham, neither has a relative nearer than the other, for, 


HOME AS FOUND. 


413 


though but cousins in the third degree, our family is so 
small as to render the husband, in this case, the natural 
heir of the wife, and the wife the natural heir of the hus- 
band. Now your father proposes that his estates be 
valued, and that my father settle on you a sum of equal 
amount, which his wealth will fully enable him to do, and 
that I become the possessor, in reversion, of the lands 
that would otherwise have been yours.” 

“You possess me, my heart, my affections, my duty ; of 
wh^it account is money after this ! ” 

“ I perceive that you are so much and so truly woman, 
Eve, that w r e must arrange all this without consulting you 
at all.” 

“ Can I be in safer hands ? A father that has always 
been too indulgent of my unreasonable wishes — a second 
parent that has only contributed too much to spoil me in 
the same thoughtless manner — and a ” 

“ Husband,” added Paul, perceiving that Eve hesitated 
at pronouncing to his face a name so novel though so en- 
dearing, “ who will strive to do more than either in the 
same way.” 

“ Husband,” she added, looking up into his face with 
a smile innocent as that of an infant, while the crimson 
tinge covered her forehead, “ if the formidable word must 
be uttered, who is doing all he can to increase a self- 
esteem that is already so much greater than it ought to 
be.” ' 

A light tap at the door caused Eve to start and look 
embarrassed, like one detected in a fault, and Paul -to re- 
lease the hand that he had continued to hold during the 
brief dialogue. 

“ Sir — ma’am ” — said the timid, meek voice of Ann 
Sidley, as she held the door ajar, without presuming to 
look into the room : “ Miss Eve — Mr. Powis.” 

“ Enter, my good Nanny,” said Eve, recovering her self- 
composure in a moment, the presence of her nurse always 
appearing to her as no more than a duplication of herself. 
“What is your wish ? ” 

“ I hope I am not unreasonable, but I knew that Mr. 
Effingham w T as alone with you, here, and I wished — that is, 
ma’am — Miss Eve — Sir ” 

“ Speak your wishes, my good old nurse — am I not your 


414 


HOME AS FbUND. 


own child, and is not this your own child’s ” — again Eve 
hesitated, blushed, and smiled, ere she pronounced the 
formidable word — “husband.” 

“ Yes, ma’am ; and God be praised that it is so. I 
dreamt, it is now four years, Miss Eve; we were then 
travelling among the Denmarkers, and I dreamt that you 
were married to a great prince ” 

“ But your dream has not come true, my good Nanny, 
and you see by this fact that it is not always safe to trust 
in dreams.” 

“ Ma’am, I do not esteem princes by the kingdoms and 
crowns, but by their qualities — and if Mr. Powis be not a 
prince, who is ? ” 

“That, indeed, changes the matter,” said the gratified 
young wife ; “and I believe, after all, dear Nanny, that I 
must become a convert to your theory of dreams.” 

“While I must always deny it, good Mrs. Sidley, if this 
is a specimen of its truth,” said Paul, laughing. “ But, 
perhaps this prince proved unworthy of Miss Eve, after 
all ! ” 

“ Not he, sir ; he made her a most kind and affectionate 
husband ; not humoring all her idle wishes, if Miss Eve 
could have had such wishes, but cherishing her, and coun- 
selling her, and protecting her, showing as much tender- 
ness for her as her own father, and as much love for her 
as I had myself.” 

“In which case, my worthy nurse, he proved an invalu- 
able husband,” said Eve, with glistening eyes, “and I trust, 
too, that he was considerate and friendly to you ? ” 

“ He took me by the hand, the morning after the mar- 
riage, and said, ‘ Faithful. Ann Sidley, you have nursed and 
attended my beloved when a child, and as a young lady ; 
and I now entreat you will continue to wait on and serve 
her as a wife to her dying day.’ He did, indeed, ma’am ; 
and I think I can now hear the very words he spoke so 
kindly. The dream, so far, has come good.” 

“ My faithful Ann,” said Paul, smiling, and taking the 
hand of the nurse, “you have been all that is good and 
true to my best beloved, as a child, and as a young lady ; 
and now I earnestly entreat you to continue to wait on 
her, and to serve her as my wife, to your dying day.” 

Nanny clapped her hands with a scream of delight, and 


HOME AS FOUND . 


415 

bursting into tears, she exclaimed, as she hurried from the 
room, 

“ It has all come true — it has all come true ! ” 

A pause of several minutes succeeded this burst of su- 
perstitious but natural feeling. 

“ All who live near you appear to think you the com- 
mon centre of their affections,” Paul resumed, when his 
swelling heart permitted him to speak. 

“ We have hitherto been a family of love — God grant it 
may always continue so.” 

Another delicious silence, which lasted still longer than 
the other, followed. Eve then looked up into her hus- 
band’s face with a gentle curiosity, and observed : 

“You have told me a great deal, Powis — explained all 
but one little thing, that at the time caused me great pain. 
Why did Ducie, when you were about to quit the Montauk 
together, so unceremoniously stop you, as you were about 
to get into the boat first ; is the etiquette of a man-of-war 
so rigid as to justify so much rudeness, I had almost 
called it — ? ” 

“ The etiquette of a vessel of war is rigid certainly, and 
wisely so. But what you fancied rudeness, was in truth a 
compliment. Among us sailors, it is the inferior who goes 
first into a boat, and who quits it last.” 

“ So much, then, for forming a judgment ignorantly ! I 
believe it is always safer to have no opinion, than to form 
one without a perfect knowledge of all the accompanying 
circumstances.” 

“ Let us adhere to this safe rule through life, dearest, 
and we may find its benefits. An absolute confidence, 
caution in drawing conclusions, and a just reliance on each 
other, may keep us as happy to the end of our married 
life as we are at this blessed moment, when it is commen- 
cing under auspices so favorable as to seem almost provi- 
dential.” 


THE END. 







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LOVELL’S LIBRARY.— CATALOGUE. 


185. Mysterious Island, Pt II. 15 
Mysterious Island, PtI 1 1. 15 

186. Tom Brown at Oxford, 

2 Parts, each 15 

187. Thicker than Water.... 20 

188. In Silk Attire 20 

189. Scottish Chiefs, Part I.. 20 
Scottish Chiefs, Part 1 1 . 20 

190. Willy Reilly 20 

191. The Nautz Family 20 

192. Great Expectations 20 

193. Hist.of Pendennis,Pt I.. 20 
Hist. of Pendennis,Pt II 20 

194. Widow Bedott Papers ..20 

195. Daniel Deronda, Part I . .20 
Daniel Deronda, Part II. 20 

196. AltioraPeto 20 

197. By the Gate of the Sea.. 15 

198. Tales of a Traveller 20 

199. Life and Voyages of Co- 

lumbus, 2 Parts, each. 20 

200. The Pilgrim’s Progress.. 20 

201. MartinChuzzlewit,P’rt 1 . 20 
MartinChuzzlewit,P’t II. 20 

202. Theophrastus Such 

203. Disarmed 15 

204. Eugene Aram 20 

205. The Spanish Gypsy, &C.20 

206. Cast up by the Seg 20 

207. Mill on the Floss, Part 1 . 15 
Mill on the Floss, P’t I I. 15 

208. Brother Jacob, etc 10 

209. The Executor 20 

210. American Notes ..15 

2 1 1. The Newcomes, Part I.. 20 
The Newcomes, Part II. 20 

212 The Privateersman 20 

213. The Three Feathers 20 

214. Phantom Fortune 20 

215. The Red Eric 20 

216. Lady Silverdale’s Sweet- 

heart^ . 10 

217. The FStir Macnicol’s . . . xo 

218. Mr.PisistratusBrown,M.P.io 

219. Dombeyand Son, Part 1 . 20 
Dombey and Son, Part II.20 

220. Book of Snobs 10 

221. F airy Tales, Illustra ted . . 20 

222. The Disowned 20 

223. Little Dorrit, Part 1 20 

Little Dorrit, Part II ... .20 

224. Abbotsford and New- 

stead Abbey 10 

225. Oliver Goldsmith, Black 10 

226. The Fire Brigade 20 

227. Rifle and Hound in Cey- 
lon 20 

228. Our Mutual Friend, P’t 1 . 20 
OurMutualP'riend,P’t II. 20 

229. Paris Sketches 15 

230. Belinda 20 

231. Nicholas Nickleby,P*t 1 . 20 
NicholasNicklebv,P’t 1 1 . 20 

232. Monarch of Mincing 

Lane 20 

233. Eight Years’ Wanderings 

in Ceylon 20 

234. Pictures from Italy r$ 

235. Adventures of Philip, Pt 1 . 15 
Adventures of Philip, Pt 1 1.15 

236. Knickerbocker History 

of New York. 20 


237. The Boy at Mugby. 

238. The Virginians, Part I.. 20 
The Virginians, Part II. 20 

239. Erling the Bold 20 

240. Kenelm Chillingly 20 

241. Deep Down 20 

242. Samuel Brohl & Co 20 

243. Gautran 20 

244. Bleak House, Part I.... 20 
Bleak House, Part 1 1 ... 20 

245. What Will He Do With 

It ? 2 Parts, each .. 20 

246.SketchesofYoungCouples.10 

247. Devereux 20 

248. Life of Webster, Part 1 . 15 
Life of Webster, Pt. II. 15 

249. The Crayon Papers 20 

250. The Caxtons, Part I 15 

The Caxtons, Part II... 13 

251. Autobiography of An- 

thony Trollope 20 

252. Critical Reviews, etc. ...10 

253. Lucretia 20 

254. Peter the Whaler 20 

253. Last of the Barons. Pt 1 . 15 

Last of the Barons, Pt.II. 15 

256. Eastern Sketches 15 

257. All in a Garden Fair.... 20 

258. File No. 113.... 20 

259. The Parisians, Part I... 20 
The Parisians, Part II.. 20 

260. Mrs. Darling’s Letters. ..20 

261. Master Humphrey’s 

Clock 10 

262. Fatal Boots, etc 

263. The Alhambra 15 

264. The Four Georges 10 

265. Plutarch’s Lives, 5 Pts. $1. 

266. Under the Red Flag.... 10 

267. TheHaunted House, etc. 10 

268. When the Ship Comes 

Home 

269. One False, both Fair.... 20 

270. The Mudfog Papers, etc. 10 

271. My Novel, 3 Parts, each.20 

272. Conquest of Granada. ..20 

273. Sketches by Boz 20 

274. A Christmas Carol, etc.. 15 

275. lone Stewart 20 

276. Harold, 2 Parts, each. . . 15 

277. Dora Thorne. 20 

278. Maid of Athens. . 20 

279. Conquest of Spain 10 

280. Fitzboodle Papers, etc. . 10 

281. Bracebridge Hall 20 

282. Uncommercial Traveller.20 

283. Roundabout Papers 20 

284. Rossmoyne .20 

283. A Legend of the Rhine, 

etc 10 

286. Cox’s Diary, etc 10 

287. Beyond Pardon 20 

288. Somebody’sLuggage,etc. 10 

289. Godolphin 20 

290. Salmagundi 20 

291. Famous Funny Fellows. 20 

292. Irish Sketches, etc 20 

293. The Battle of Life, etc.. . 10 

294. Pilgrims of the Rhine. . . 15 

295. Random Shots 20 

296. Men’s Wives... 10 

297. Mystery of Edwin Drood.20 


298. Reprinted Pieces 20 

299. Astoria 

300. Novels by Eminent Hands 10 

301. Companions of Columbiveo 

302. No Thoroughfare 'o 

303. Character Sketches, etc. io 

304. Christmas Books.. ....20 

305. A Tour on the Prairies... 10 

306. Ballads 15 

307. Yellowplush Papers 10 

308. Life of Mahomet, Part 1 . 13 
Life of Mahomet, Pt. II.15 

309. Sketches and Travels in 

London 

310. Oliver Goldsmith, Irving.20 

3 1 1. Captain Bonneville .... 20 

312. Golden Girls 20 

313. English Humorists 15 

314. Moorish Chronicles 14 

315. Winifred Power 

316. Great HoggartyDiamond 1® 

317. Pausanias 15 

318. The New Abelard 20 

319. A Real Queen 2f 

320. The Rose and the Ring.2\ 

321. Wolfert’s Roost and Mis- 

cellanies, by Irving*. . ■ ifl 

322. Mark Seawo'rth 20 

323. Life of Paul Jones 20 

324. Round the World 20 

325. Elbow Room 20 

326. The Wizard’s Son 25 

327. Harry Lorrequer 20 

328. How It All Came Round.20 

329. Dante Rosetti’s Poems. 2a 

330. The Canon’s Ward 20 

331. Lucile, by O. Meredith. 20 

332. Every Day Cook Book .. 20 

333. Lays of Ancient Rome.. 2c 

334. Life of Bums 20 

335. The Young Foresters. . .20 

336. John Bull andHis Island io 

337. Salt Water, byKingston.2c 

338. The Midshipman 20 

339. Proctor’s Poems 20 

340. Clayton’s Rangers 20 

341. Schiller’s Poems *20 

342. Goethe’s Faust 20 

343. Goethe’s Poems 20 

344. Life of Thackeray xo 

345. Dante’s Vision of Hell, 
Purgatory and Paradise . . 20 

346. An Interesting Case 20 

347. Life of Byron, Nichol. . . 10 

348. Life of Bunyan xo 

349. Valerie’s Fate 10 

350. Grandfather Lickshingle.20 

351. Lays of the Scottish Ca- * 

valiers 20 

352. Willis’ Poems 20 

353. Tales of the French Re- 

volution 15 

354. Loom and Lugger ..... .20 

355. More Leaves from a Life 

in the Highlands 15 

356. Hygiene of the Brain. ..25 

357. Berkeley the Banker. ... 20 

358. Homes Abroad 15 

359. Scott’s Lady of the Lake, 

with notes 

360. Modem Christianity a 
civilized Heathenism.. ..13 


THE CELEBRATED 



Grand, Square and Upright 



PIANOFORTES. 

The demands now made b„ jn educated musical public are so exaeting that very few 
Pianoforte Manufacturers can produce Instruments that will stand the test which merit 
requires. SOHMER & CO., as Manufacturers, ,nk amongst these chosen few, who ar? 
acknowledged to be makers of standard instruments. In these days, when Manufacturer, 
urge the low price of their wares rather than their superior quality as an inducement to 
purchase, i t may not be amiss to n igtst that, in Piano, quality and price are too in- 
separably joined to expect the one without the other. 

Every Piano ought to be judged as to the quality of its tone, its touch, and Its work- 
manship; if any one of these is wanting in excellence, however good the others may be, 
the instrument will be imperfect. It is the combination of these qualities in the highest 
degree that constitutes the perfect Piano, and it is this combination that has given the 
“ SOHMER ” its honorable position with the trade and the public. 

Received First Prize Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia, 1876. 
Received First Prize at Exhibition, Montreal, Canada, 1881 & 1882. 

SOHMER & CO., Manufacturers, 

149-155 E. 14th St., New York. 






































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